HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence’s Montana visit (all times local):
7:45 p.m.
Vice President Mike Pence rallied fellow Republicans in Montana in support of God, guns and Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for the state’s only congressional seat.
Pence implored the crowd of hundreds at the Metrapark pavilion in Billings to help elect Gianforte, who he said would be an ally to the Trump administration.
His speech avoided any deep policy pronouncements or any mention of the tumults buffeting the Trump administration’s first several months.
Pence urged Gianforte’s supporters to spread out into the expansive state to help recruit supporters for Gianforte, who faces Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks in a May 25 special election.
Pence is expected to fly back to Washington on Sunday. His office said the vice president has no public events scheduled for Saturday.
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7:15 p.m.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is urging his fellow Montanans to help his boss - President Donald Trump - drain the “swamp” in Washington by electing fellow Republican Greg Gianforte to the U.S. House.
A May 25 special election will decide who fills the seat vacated by Zinke earlier this year when he joined the Trump administration.
Zinke’s speech was a prelude to the night’s headliner, Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence was expected to address a crowd of hundreds assembled at the MetraPark in Billings, Montana’s largest city.
Gianforte is vying for the seat against Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks.
In his speech, Zinke touted his support of gun rights and religious freedoms.
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5:50 p.m.
A Billings event center began filling with people awaiting the arrival of Vice President Mike Pence for a 6 p.m. rally benefiting Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte, who is vying in a May 25 special election to become his state’s sole representative in the U.S. House.
The Friday event also drew dozens of protesters, who held signs on the grounds of the MetraPark and along nearby streets in Montana’s largest city.
An hour before the 6 p.m. rally, nearly 400 people had begun to fill the event pavilion, as a line of other people waited to get in, according to the Great Falls Tribune.
Crowds begin streaming in for the event as the vice president took a horseback tour of a coal mine on the Crow Indian Reservation, about 50 miles east of Billings.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican who once worked for Gianforte, tweeted a picture of the vice president in blue jeans and cowboy boots.
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1:15 p.m.
Vice President Mike Pence has arrived in Montana, where he will visit a coal mine on the Crow Indian Reservation before headlining an evening rally in support of Republican Greg Gianforte, who is seeking the state’s only congressional seat.
The Billings Gazette reports the vice president’s plane - Air Force Two -touched down in Billings at about 1 p.m.
Pence was expected to be joined Friday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose resignation from the U.S. House earlier this year to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet triggered the May 25 special election.
National Republicans have rallied behind Gianforte to keep the seat under the party’s control, as they fend off Democrat and popular musician Rob Quist. Libertarian Mark Wicks is also seeking the post.
His office said the vice president will ride on horseback as he tours the Westmoreland Coal Company’s Absaloka Mine on the Crow Indian Reservation before meeting with tribal and business leaders.
He later headlines a 6 p.m. Gianforte rally at the MetraPark in Billings.
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10:20 a.m.
Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit a Montana coal mine and an Indian reservation before headlining an evening rally in support of Republican Greg Gianforte, who is seeking the state’s only congressional seat.
Pence is expected to be joined Friday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose resignation from the U.S. House earlier this year to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet triggered the May 25 special election.
National Republicans have rallied behind Gianforte to keep the seat under the party’s control, as they fend off Democrat and popular musician Rob Quist. Libertarian Mark Wicks is also seeking the post.
His office said the vice president will ride on horseback as he tours the Westmoreland Coal Company’s Absaloka Mine on the Crow Indian Reservation before meeting with tribal and business leaders.
He later headlines a 6 p.m. Gianforte rally at the MetraPark in Billings.
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