As Withdrawal Deadline Comes to a Close in Senate Race, Bankhead and Bodnar Both Commit to Staying the Course

As the deadline for a candidate to withdraw from Montana’s U.S. Senate race comes to a close, both Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent Seth Bodnar have said they’ll stay the course, concluding a pressure campaign that has built over the past month for the Democrat to depart.

“There has been a lot of noise about this race, so let me cut through it plain and simple: I am in this race to win it, and I am staying through November 3,” Bankhead said at an East Helena press conference Monday. “I’m a veteran and I fight for the people, not the powerful. I was nominated by Montanans. My opponents were selected by the establishment. The powerful want to overturn your primary for their hand-picked candidates, and they are spending a fortune to push me out of this race, but I will never bow down.”

Her final double-down on the dropout question comes after Bodnar held a similar presser in Billings Friday, where the independent also promised he’d run hard through Nov. 3. Their locked horns on the question of leaving the race heavily increases the likelihood that Republican Kurt Alme will maintain his party’s grip on Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat this fall.

Bankhead delivered her pledge on Monday as cries for her departure reached a fever pitch. On Sunday, her campaign published allegations that Bankhead and her family faced death threats and harassment. She claimed Monday “nobody has ever asked me to drop out,” with the exception of emails from individuals.

But many prominent figures and organizations in Montana politics had suggested Bankhead leave the race amid flagging signs of support for the Democrat. She has struggled to keep pace with Bodnar and Alme’s fundraising machines. Each has raised millions to Bankhead’s $60,000, though Bankhead took offense to reporters’ questions about how she’d be able to compete Monday given the discrepancy, arguing her support has been largely grassroots. She has also lagged behind the other candidates in polling. Still, she has found a groundswell of backing in the party’s base, with the Democratic Party’s executive director and executive board publicly standing behind their candidate.

Those dynamics have been mirrored in the Flathead, where some left-leaning voters and organizations have backed Bankhead, while Democratic elected officials in the area have signed onto letters calling for her to leave the race.

Ron Gerson, the chair of the Flathead Democrats, said Bankhead’s final word Monday that she’d remain in the race didn’t come as a surprise to him.

“She won the primary, she’s the candidate of the Democrats, people elected her in a five-way primary, and that’s about it. End of story pretty much,” Gerson said in a Monday interview with the Beacon. “There’s been some attempted intervention on behalf of Seth Bodnar to try and get her to step out but personally I felt that was completely inappropriate and kind of a non-starter.”

Local advocates and some Democratic candidates in the Flathead echoed Gerson’s sentiments. Leanette Galaz, the co-founder of Flathead Democracy and a member of Flathead County’s Indivisible chapter — a national organization dedicated to stopping “the rise of authoritarianism” in the U.S. — called Bankhead a “mentor” to her as a local organizer.

Galaz said she first met Bankhead months ago and has leaned on her for advice several times since. While Flathead Democracy and Indivisible each don’t take stances on state races, Galaz said she’s a supporter of Bankhead on a personal level.

In large part, that’s because of her concerns with the development of data centers on Montana’s natural resources. Bankhead, Galaz said, is the lone candidate in the Senate race who has backed a moratorium on data centers. And Galaz rejects the idea that Bankhead’s polling and fundraising figures are indicators she’s unable to compete.

“Someone is electable if you vote for them,” Galaz said.  

And a letter signed by a slew of Flathead-area Democratic candidates to Bankhead and the state’s Democratic Party also outlined support for Bankhead’s candidacy. Their letter pinned the blame on former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who purportedly encouraged Bodnar to run as an independent earlier this year, for “circumventing the Democratic primary.” Bodnar has previously told the Beacon he chose to run as an independent because it was true to his record of leadership.

Nonetheless, the candidates suggested Tester had created the problem and his influence was to blame for funneling Democratic resources to Bodnar.

“Alani will, through this process, join the deep ranks of women who have been underestimated, undervalued, underappreciated, and under supported only to rise to the occasion and make their naysayers hang their heads in regret,” the candidates wrote. “We encourage you all to not make the same historical mistake, recognize excellence, and support Alani Bankhead for U.S. Senate.”

But in the valley, Democrats’ perspectives on the Senate race were nuanced.

While several candidates running for office backed Bankhead’s bid, the valley’s two elected Democrats — state Sen. Dave Fern and state Rep. Debo Powers — each put their name to a pair of letters calling for a candidate to depart the race. The first asked that Bankhead and Bodnar meet and determine which of their candidacies could mount a stronger campaign against Alme in November. The second, which circulated Thursday, called on Bankhead to leave the race.

Both Fern and Powers told the Beacon their signatures on the letter weren’t personal.  

“I really like Alani Bankhead, and I know this was a really hard decision for her to make because she was under a lot of pressure and it shows a lot of strength that she stuck with it. I will not criticize her for her decision,” Powers said. “She had to do what she thought was the right thing and I don’t agree with it, but I respect it.”

Powers instead framed her signature on the letters as an act of putting the country over her party. While she called herself a lifelong Democrat, she worries about what’s happening in the country. She said her priority was backing a candidate who had the best chance of winning and acting as a check on the current administration.

And for Fern, the idea of including more independent voices in the mix has long served as a priority. In the 2021 legislative session, when Fern served as a state representative, he carried a piece of legislation aimed at making it easier for independent candidates to get on the ballot. The bill ultimately died in committee.  

“I’ve had a historic interest in the benefits or the potential benefits a body may derive from having an independent,” Fern said. “They see things a little differently than a Republican or Democrat and don’t have the party pressure on them so much. One reason I signed onto the letter in support of Seth (Bodnar) is that it’s important to me to look at that independent label and how that might have a positive effect on Congress and help with the toxicity a bit at that level.”

While Fern is supportive of the idea of promoting independent voices, he also acknowledged Bankhead had won the Democratic Party’s primary. It’s “her right” to stay in the race, he said.

That right is one Bodnar’s team, for its part, also acknowledged in a statement Monday. But his team also dug in its heels, committing to staying in the race, and minced no words in its argument against the Democrat.

“She has no clear path to the resources it takes to compete statewide, and by her own admission, does not feel she needs them to win,” said Abigail Tracy, Bodnar’s spokesperson. “She’s said she’s comfortable staying in even if it makes things easier for MAGA Republican Kurt Alme, who has spent this entire campaign hiding from Montana voters after being installed on the ballot by Washington insiders. A mysterious PAC bankrolled her primary campaign, then abandoned her at the end of June. There’s also a real question of whether Alani’s own record reflects the Montana values she’s trying to campaign on.”

Bankhead, though, said Monday she views her continuing in the race as trusting Montanans to make up their own minds. She has previously painted herself as a David-esque figure in a David-versus-Goliath battle for the Senate race. During her press conference, she harkened back to Montanans rising up against the Copper Kings in making the case for her candidacy.

“Remember who we are, Montana,” Bankhead said. “Wake up to your true power. They have the money, but they don’t have the people, and that’s why they’re so terrified of us.”

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