Independent earns progressive endorsements in Montana Senate race
Micah Drew
(Daily Montanan) With just over three months to go until Election Day, independent Montana U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar is raking in major progressive endorsements that traditionally align with Democrats, most recently from a national veterans organization.
VoteVets, which describes itself as the largest progressive veterans organization in the U.S., announced its endorsement on Friday of the former president of the University of Montana and former Green Beret, bypassing veteran and Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead.
“At VoteVets, we support winners, and Seth Bodnar is best positioned to run and win in Montana,” VoteVets Senior Advisor General Paul Eaton said in a statement. “Montana veterans deserve a voice in the U.S. Senate that they can count on. Seth is the best and most formidable candidate to lead Montana into the future, and he has VoteVets’ full support ahead of November.”
Montana’s top-of-the-ticket race is drawing the most coverage, money and controversy in the state due to a split of center-left supporters between Bankhead and Bodnar, facing off against Republican Kurt Alme.
With Bodnar leading in endorsements and funding, calls have been increasing for Bankhead to drop out of the race to consolidate support against Alme. Most recently, Democratic matriarch Carol Williams said Bankhead should bow out, and the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said her campaign doesn’t have a viable path to victory.
Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines, who decided not to run for a third term, is currently the only member of Montana’s federal delegation without a military record.
Bankhead spent more than two decades with the Air Force, including in counterintelligence, special operations and security assignments.
In addition to VoteVets’ endorsement, Bodnar’s independent run for the Senate has also drawn support from conservation organizations including the League of Conservation Voters, Montana Conservation Voters and Montanans for Public Lands; union groups including the state’s largest, Montana AFL-CIO; and End Citizens United, a group that campaigns against corruption and “Big Money” in politics.
He also has endorsements from a cross-partisan group of Montana U.S. senators, governors and party leaders.
Bankhead told the Daily Montanan that the only endorsements she cares about are “the 48,772 votes cast for me by the people of Montana, and the remaining population whom I’ll be representing.”
“I am not beholden to any power machine or organization,” Bankhead said in a text message. “Montanans’ choice is between me and two candidates hand picked by the 1% who want to maintain control of government to acquire more power and money.”
In a previous interview with the Daily Montanan, Bankhead also said she is running a grassroots campaign and showing up to events where Montanans are — such as rallies for Medicaid — to connect with voters, not big names
Alme, a former U.S. Attorney nominated by President Donald Trump, has drawn the traditional Republican-backing group endorsements, including Americans for Prosperity, the National Rifle Association, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America fund, and the Montana Stockgrowers Association.
‘No viable path’
This week, Carol Williams, a former state Senate Majority Leader, added her voice to those wanting Bankhead to bow out to consolidate support against Alme.
On Tuesday, a letter circulated to Montana’s political sphere from Williams, who was married to the late U.S. Rep. Pat Williams, Montana’s longest-serving member of the U.S. House.
Carol Williams launched Carol’s List, which recruits and supports progressive, pro-choice women seeking public office for Montana, and in the letter, she explicitly asked state Democratic leaders, donors and “the faithful” to encourage Bankhead to drop out.
“The women I have spent my life recruiting earned their place by being tested, by being known, by having a record their neighbors could vouch for. Alani Bankhead has none of that,” Williams wrote.
Earlier this month, a group of 17 Democratic state lawmakers signed onto a letter asking either Bankhead or Bodnar to drop out and consolidate support, writing that by traditional campaign metrics, Bodnar appears to be in a better position.
Bankhead has criticized national Democrats for failing to back their Democratic nominee, including writing an editorial panning the “absolute lack of support or even encouragement” from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
“It’s not too late for the DSCC,” Bankhead wrote. “We can take back the leadership of the U.S. Senate and that path toward victory goes through the Big Sky State.”
But on Friday morning, Semafor reported that the DSCC executive director told the news organization that the organization “partners with viable campaigns who have a path to victory, which Ms. Bankhead does not.”
Bankhead told the Daily Montanan the DSCC statement is “just another example of the Washington political establishment trying to tell Montanans how to vote.”
“But Montana has never taken kindly to outsiders trying to dictate our future. We don’t like being manipulated, strong-armed or told our voices matter less than party bosses in D.C.,” Bankhead said. “Montana has a long history of proving the establishment wrong.”
Limited polling done in the state shows that in a three-way race (Libertarian Kyle Austin is also running, but polls far behind all candidates), Alme is almost assured to win by double digits. Bankhead polls just ahead of Bodnar in many surveys.
Head-to-head matchups show much closer races, some with Bodnar showing a stronger run against Alme, but the split coalition of support between Bodnar and Bankhead has left national political analysts to rate the seat “Solid Republican.”
The deadline for candidates to drop out of the Senate race is Aug. 10.