In Montana Senate Race, Democrat Bankhead Doubles Down on Bid Against Bodnar
Alani Bankhead, the Democrat in the race, reiterated primary promises that she wouldn’t drop out to make room for independent Seth Bodnar’s candidacy even as the former University of Montana president clinched a slate of high-profile endorsements
By Mariah Thomas
Alani Bankhead, the Democrat running for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat, doubled down on primary promises she would “never drop out” of the race at her campaign’s first post-primary press conference Monday.
“I will always do what’s in Montana’s best interest, because I’m not a politician; I’m a public servant,” Bankhead said. “And if dropping out was the right move to pave the way for a better candidate, I would absolutely do it, because the stakes are so high. But Seth Bodnar is absolutely the last person on the face of this earth that I would ever drop out of this race for.”
Seth Bodnar, the former president of the University of Montana who is mounting an independent bid for the U.S. Senate, announced last week the Secretary of State’s office had accepted more than 20,000 signatures from his campaign, cementing his spot on the ballot for November. In a release, Bodnar heralded the number of signatures as Montanans declaring “their independence from Washington’s broken political system” and hit Republican nominee Kurt Alme as a “handpicked puppet who will put Washington over Montana every time.” Some have speculated Bodnar has the best chance at beating Alme in a state where a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race since 2018 — but that strategy only works if the Democrat drops out of the race.
But at Bankhead’s press conference, Bodnar fell into the Air Force veteran’s crosshairs as the Democrat invoked Jeannette Rankin (the first and only woman Montana has sent to Congress) to “get nasty,” giving a 10-minute speech about a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against the University of Montana while Bodnar was at the school’s helm.
The lawsuit Bankhead referenced was filed in 2021. It included stories of women between 2011 to 2018 — before and during Bodnar’s tenure as president — to claim the university created a “good ‘ol boys’ club” that prevented the growth of women’s careers on campus. The university settled the suit in 2024 for $350,000 and a commitment to a Title IX review.
Bankhead on Monday pointed to the lawsuits — and what she called Bodnar’s “deflection” when asked about them — as evidence of how he would lead, should he win election to the U.S. Senate.
“We are in the Epstein era,” Bankhead said. “Seth has established a pattern dismissing and discriminating against women and allowing a culture of discrimination to, at minimum, continue, or, even worse, magnify these issues. Anyone with this much sex discrimination baggage should read the room and drop out.”
Abigail Tracy, a spokesperson for Bodnar’s campaign, said Bodnar “took all claims of discrimination seriously” at UM, pointing out that “no wrongdoing was ever found in this lawsuit.” The university has long heralded statistics that 78% of campus promotions went to women during Bodnar’s tenure and pointed to increases in the number of women in dean positions and on the university’s executive team. Bodnar’s campaign pointed to those figures as well.
Just an hour after Bankhead’s presser, the Bodnar campaign rolled out a press release highlighting a slew of high-profile endorsements from figures across the political spectrum. Those include former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot, former Democratic U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus, former chair of the Montana GOP Susan Geise, and Gary Buchanan, who ran as an independent in the state’s eastern congressional district in 2022.
“Seth’s campaign is only gaining more momentum and support from Montanans across the political spectrum,” Tracy said. “Tens of thousands of Montanans from every corner of our state have already signed their own declarations of independence: they are sick of the broken politics of Washington and are ready for an Independent on the ballot in November. Seth is getting attacked from the left and the right because he will never pay allegiance to Party bosses or political elites, and he will work every day until Election Day to earn the vote of every Montanan.”
Bodnar’s campaign has the largest war chest of any candidate in the Senate race, raising $2.1 million so far. Alme, the Republican, has brought in $1.2 million, with more than $920,000 of that still on hand. Bankhead, the Democrat, has brought in $23,884.15 — though her candidacy was buoyed in the final weeks of the primary by spending from the Progressive Vet PAC on her behalf.