HELENA – Former congressman Rick Hill has won Montana’s Republican nomination for governor and will face Democrat Steve Bullock in the general election.
Hill topped state Sens. Corey Stapleton of Billings, Ken Miller of Laurel and Choteau County Commissioner James O’Hara.
With 35 percent of the projected vote counted, Hill led Stapleton 35-18 percent. Miller had 17 percent and O’Hara had 13 percent.
Bullock, Montana’s attorney general, led Heather Margolis of Helena 87-13 percent.
Hill and Bullock will vie to replace Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat who is term-limited.
Hill left Congress in 2000. He emerged from a crowded primary where he was forced to drain his campaign coffers fighting attacks from the right.