I’m the Executive Director of Forward Montana. Every day, my staff and I organize and build political power with other young people across our state. These people are working multiple jobs while struggling to afford rent. They’re wondering if they’ll ever be able to buy a home or even be able to stay here in Montana. They’re worrying about lengthening forest fire seasons and dwindling snow. They’re watching their parents come into retirement with little saved and rising costs. They don’t know how long they can keep barely making ends meet in the state they love.
I’ve seen firsthand that younger generations are increasingly independent-minded. We’re less interested in partisan loyalty than we are in finding leaders who can solve real problems. And we’re sick of political theater. We want results.
Montana hasn’t had a true open U.S. Senate race in my lifetime, and the stakes for young voters have rarely been higher. Kurt Alme supports a national abortion ban, gutting Medicaid and rural hospitals, selling off our public lands, and giving tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy. He will be a rubber stamp for Trump’s policies that disenfranchise young people and undermine our democracy. Young people will live with the consequences for decades if we squander our opportunity – and responsibility – to check the federal government’s power.
There is never a perfect candidate, and we cannot expect politicians to save us, especially without a steady drum of accountability. I am proud, however, of our Forward Montana Board – elected by our members and made up of young Montanans – who interviewed and carefully evaluated both Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead and independent candidate Seth Bodnar. We asked tough questions about the issues that matter most to young Montanans, reviewed each campaign’s strategy, examined the political landscape, and considered who had the strongest path to winning a competitive general election. Our conclusion was clear: Seth Bodnar earned our endorsement.
Seth Bodnar has raised the money, earned the endorsements, and is building the campaign to successfully compete against Kurt Alme. He aligns with young people on abortion access, public lands, and economic justice, and has the leadership experience to get policies passed that make real improvements in young Montanans’ lives. Alani Bankhead simply does not have the resources, endorsements, or campaign team to seriously compete against Kurt Alme and the MAGA machine.
I gained even more clarity around our organizational choice to endorse Seth Bodnar after attending an Alani Bankhead campaign event in Missoula. It was telling that the event had just a couple dozen people in attendance who were not press or staff. As an organizer, I know that grassroots power takes time to build, but we are less than 100 days from Election Day, and the event was hosted in the most Democratic-dense city in Montana. This shows at best a lack of campaign infrastructure and at worst a lack of enthusiasm for Bankhead’s candidacy from the Democratic base.
At the event, she compared reproductive choice to opting out of vaccines, said it was not her job to convince voters to vote for her, and she concerningly said she was not “emotionally invested in the outcome of the race,” even going so far recently as to say she’s comfortable continuing her run even if doing so makes things easier for Republicans, according to a Washington Post article. Well, as a young Indigenous woman, I am very emotionally invested in the outcome of this race – as are the many tens of thousands of young Montanans who will live with the consequences of the Trump administration’s unchecked power if Alani chooses to put her ego over our nation. To that end, not only is Forward Montana endorsing Seth Bodnar, but we are asking Alani Bankhead to withdraw to ensure a real shot at beating Kurt Alme.
I’ve spent my career fighting to ensure every Montanan has a voice in our democracy and for a future where young people can afford to live in my home state. That commitment stays strong in this moment. We must actually be able to win in order to impact policy, and Seth Bodnar’s campaign has proven that he’s the candidate that can compete going into November. There’s momentum, energy and hope for Montana’s future building around his campaign, and I’m proud to be a part of the growing coalition supporting him.
Alice Boyer is the executive director of Forward Montana.