Republican Kurt Alme Wins Montana’s U.S. Senate Seat
The former U.S. attorney bested both an independent and Democratic challenger Tuesday night, winning with 49% of the vote statewide
By Mariah Thomas
Montana’s U.S. Senate seat remained in Republican hands Tuesday as Kurt Alme, the former U.S. attorney from Montana, took 49% of the vote, winning over a field that included both an independent and Democratic challenger. The Associated Press called the race for Alme late Tuesday.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you to every Montanan who put their trust in me to serve as your next U.S. Senator,” Alme said in a statement at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night. “Montana is my home, and as your Senator, I will fight to make life more affordable, make our communities safer and always protect our Montana way of life. As your Senator, I will give everything I have to give — to our state and its people — who gave so much to me. Thank you Montana!”
Alme entered the race in a high-profile manner, slotting into it in the final minutes before the filing deadline as incumbent U.S. Sen. Steve Daines withdrew his bid for reelection. But the Republican ran a low-profile campaign, one Montana State University political scientist Jessi Bennion previously categorized as that of a front-runner. Alme mostly appeared in front of friendly audiences on the campaign trail and focused in on affordability, an issue ranked as important to a majority of Montanans. The Republican also heralded his deep roots in the state as part of his pitch.
Alme’s path to victory came with ease over both independent Seth Bodnar and Democrat Alani Bankhead. It followed on the heels of a bitter battle that dragged on through much of the summer regarding whether one of them should drop from the race to make it more competitive as many argued the pair would split the state’s left-leaning vote. Ultimately, neither withdrew from their bids.
Bodnar, a Green Beret and the former president of the University of Montana, had earned 37% of the vote as of 11 a.m. Wednesday morning. Bankhead, an Air Force veteran and retired federal agent, came in a distant third. She picked up 12% of the vote.
Bodnar’s independent bid marked a test case for how a candidate running outside the two-party system would perform on the statewide level. The outcome marked the second time in four years that a Democrat finished behind an independent in a federal election in Montana. In 2022, Billings businessman Gary Buchanan bested Democrat Penny Ronning in the state’s eastern congressional district. This year, the eastern district again had an independent on the ballot. Michael Eisenhauer finished behind Democrat Brian Miller Tuesday night, showing a mixed bag on the independent question in the Treasure State this fall.
Both Bodnar and Bankhead issued statements conceding the race to Alme but offered two separate assessments of how the independent question fared with voters. Bankhead pointed to losses by independents in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota, states where Democrats cleared the path and allowed independent candidates a clear shot at incumbent Republicans in efforts to break up one-party rule.
“The people are smarter than that,” she said. “We ran on the belief that the Democratic Party is worth building, not abandoning. We don’t fix the party by denouncing the party, or running from it. We fix the party by listening to the people and doing the work to give those people a voice and a place in the party. As for me, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here, doing the work to elevate those voices and bring them into the party.”
Bodnar, on the other hand, said his campaign showed “there’s a different path forward for our politics.”
“We didn’t get over the hill tonight, and that stings,” Bodnar said. “But what we built together will endure. We proved that an Independent can compete in Montana, that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can come together around the values we share, and that the people of this state are hungry for a politics that answers to them.”
But for now, the continuing question of whether an independent can succeed on the statewide level in Montana will be laid to rest as Alme heads to the U.S. Senate.
Alme will enter the Senate as part of the minority party following a night of strong showings for Democrats as voters federally delivered a rebuke of the current administration. The Democratic Party flipped seven Senate seats Tuesday night to win a majority in both chambers of the U.S. Congress.