Ahead of Withdrawal Deadline, Independent Bodnar Doubles Down on Promise to Stay in Senate Race

As Democrat Alani Bankhead marched in Kalispell’s Northwest Montana Fair Parade Friday morning, independent candidate Seth Bodnar took a podium in the state’s southeast corner, at Billings’ Courthouse Lawn Park, to reiterate his commitment to staying in the state’s U.S. Senate race.

“Let me be very clear: I am in this race until the very end,” Bodnar said. “I am committed to building a campaign that Montana deserves, because we have serious challenges in this country today, and we need to work together if we’re going to find solutions, and we need to be open to the best ideas, wherever they come from.”

Bodnar’s Friday press conference put an exclamation point on both his and Bankhead’s positions that neither will drop out. The contentious issue has divided the state’s left-leaning voters as the pair face down an Aug. 10 withdrawal deadline.

While both candidates have dealt with a tumultuous week marked by an increasing fervor of cries for one to leave the race in an effort to coalesce support on the left, each has also promised multiple times over they won’t depart it. Unless something drastic shifts before Monday, the dynamic sets up a likely scenario in which Republican Kurt Alme, who entered the race in the wake of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ last-minute departure, will run away with the Senate race.

Even as both Bodnar and Bankhead argue they want to build coalitions that extend beyond partisan divides — for Bodnar in particular, that pitch is a critical part of his campaign as an independent — political scientists say convincing voters to cast a split ticket is an increasing challenge. More often in today’s politics, people vote up and down their ballot for a single party.   

Nonetheless, Bodnar doubled down on his pitch Friday morning. He argued the two-party system isn’t serving Montana voters and his candidacy acts as an antidote.

“I believe that most of us agree on a heck of a lot more than Washington wants us to think,” Bodnar said. “We’re not nearly as divided as they tell us we are. Montanans are good and decent people. We’re just sick and tired of the broken politics of Washington, D.C., and for every Montanan who agrees with that, you have a home in this campaign. Now the national parties, the extremes, you can keep your extremism. You can keep your division. You can keep your outrage. We are building a coalition for the rest of us.”

The independent also fielded a slew of questions from media about the pressure campaign his Democratic opponent has faced from the Montana Freedom PAC, which is backing Bodnar, and from several of his allies about dropping out of the race. He said that in both private meetings and public appearances, he has never personally called on her to leave the race.

“This race has never been focused on who else is running,” Bodnar said. “This race has always been, and still is, focused on building a coalition.”

The race has seen a revolving door of candidates in the mix since Bodnar filed his candidacy on March 4, when he initially planned to run against the incumbent Daines before Alme’s last-minute slot-in.

On the Democratic side, Reilly Neill, one of Bankhead’s opponents, appeared in the strongest position to win the primary up until its final weeks, when a mysterious PAC gave Bankhead a boost. That PAC has since backed out of the race. This week, rumors also swirled in D.C. about an eleventh-hour run from former Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. Bullock previously lost the 2020 Senate race to Daines in a down-ballot trouncing for Montana Democrats that year.

Libertarians fielded an unexpected candidate as well in Kyle Austin, who has previously run as a Republican. Austin bested Tom Jandron, whom the Montana Libertarian Party endorsed for the Senate seat. The Libertarian Party has since pulled its support for Austin, even as Austin has doubled down on his Libertarian status.

Bankhead, for her part, has been vocal about her position that the split among left-leaning voters originated with Bodnar’s decision to run as an independent. She views it as his responsibility to rectify that divide by leaving the race.

“You know, I mentioned before I considered running as an independent,” Bankhead said in an interview with the Beacon last week. “And I decided not to take that route, and there were — you know, aside from the Democratic political values aligning with mine — in the state of Montana, the way things are structured in the democratic process, there’s just a lot of complications. And when the goal is to create impact, you have to play in accordance with what the law says. And so, with what’s going on in terms of not dropping out, you know, the problem was created when the independent came into the race. That’s what caused the split vote.”

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