Montana Green Party denounces candidate over remarks

BILLINGS – The Montana Green Party is denouncing one of its candidates for state Legislature in response to comments he made in 2016 about immigrants and former President Barack Obama.

Green Party Coordinator Danielle Breck said Saturday that House District 85 candidate John Gibney of Hamilton doesn’t represent the progressive party’s values and had refused to apologize for comments she described as “bigoted.”

While attending a 2016 anti-immigration rally in Missoula, Gibney reportedly told the Missoulian that Obama was a “black Muslim trying to bring this country down” and that immigrants “rape, kill and destroy.”

Gibney did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment.

Because it would be difficult to have Gibney removed from the ballot, Breck said her party hopes to enlist a write-in candidate to run against him in the June primary.