Greg Gianforte has contracted COVID-19, The Hill, and MSN indicates. He has also reportedly begun showing symptoms of the disease. His wife, Susan, had been tested for COVID-19. But apparently, they were still awaiting the result at the time of the announcement about the governor.
Greg Gianforte has been governor of Montana for a brief time thus far. He took office earlier this year. Before going into politics, he had a career in the software industry.
Gianforte became governor while his state, and pretty much every other place, has been grappling with COVID-19.
Debates have continued as to how best to deal with the novel Coronavirus. A little over a month after taking office, Gianforte lifted the mask mandate in Montana. Things might not be going as he hoped they would.
The novel coronavirus
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been surging again in the United States and other countries. Largely because of the increasing amounts of variants of the novel coronavirus. Variant strains can potentially elude antibodies that were previously developed to combat the same virus. Each time the virus passes from host to host, it can cause the virus to mutate. Possibly eventually creating a new variant.
With his test result, Gianfore becomes one of several American governors to test positive for COVID-19.
Several members of Congress and other high-ranking public officials have also done so.
Was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives
Gianforte defeated Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney by a wide margin to win the governorship. Cooney's father, Frank Henry Cooney, was governor and lieutenant governor of Montana.
It was not the first time Greg Gianfore made a run at being governor of Montana. In 2016, he also campaigned for office. Ultimately, however, he lost to incumbent Democratic Governor Steve Bullock.
The following year, he ran in a special election for Montana's lone seat in the United States House of Representatives. The previous seat holder, Ryan Zinke, had been appointed as United States secretary of the interior.
Gianforte would win that race. His closest competitor was the Democratic nominee, musician Rob Quist.
In 2018, Gianforte was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He chose not to run for another term instead of making his second gubernatorial run.
In his younger years, Gianforte was elected junior and senior high school class president. He attended Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Later, he graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
After working for what is now known as Bell Labs, Gianforte co-founded his first software company. It was later bought by McAfee Associates Inc., who Gianforte also worked for.
After moving to Bozeman, Montana, Gianforte and his wife co-founded what was then RightNow Technologies. Future U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator Steve Daines was also a key figure at the company.
