Montana Senate Race Turns Combative as Withdrawal Deadline Nears

Pressure to narrow the field in Montana’s U.S. Senate race intensified this week, but with a Monday evening deadline approaching, none of the candidates has shown any willingness to step aside.

Seth Bodnar, running as an independent, said at a news conference in a Billings park Friday morning that he was staying in through November, dismissing what he called “speculation” and “silliness” about a possible withdrawal. “Let me be very clear: I am in this race until the very end,” he said, according to MTN. He repeated his argument that only a candidate outside the two major parties could put Montana’s interests ahead of national party leadership, and appeared alongside supporters including Mike Eisenhauer, an independent candidate for the state’s eastern U.S. House seat.

Democratic nominee Alani Bankhead was equally firm. “I’m never going to stop fighting for Montanans, and I’m never going to quit,” she told MTN, saying the establishment was unsettled by her campaign. She has said there is no circumstance under which she would withdraw.

The standoff reflects a broader pattern this cycle, in which independents have positioned themselves as more viable than Democrats in Republican-leaning states. Democratic Senate candidates in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota have dropped out in recent weeks, clearing paths for independents against Republican incumbents. In Montana, a number of political figures have argued that neither Bodnar nor Bankhead can beat Republican nominee Kurt Alme with both on the ballot.

That argument has taken an increasingly hostile form. Montana Freedom PAC, a super PAC supporting Bodnar, has run television and digital ads attacking Bankhead’s record and has begun distributing yard signs urging her to withdraw, with slogans including “Bow Out Bankhead: Pass the Torch, Protect Our Progress.” The group also launched a roughly 30-second television spot this week using dramatic narration and clips of Bankhead speaking to the camera before urging voters to reject her.

Asked by MTN whether he endorsed the effort, Bodnar said he had not coordinated with the PAC, as required by law, and had never asked Bankhead to leave the race. “This race has never been focused on who else is running,” he said.

Bankhead confirmed Bodnar had not personally asked her to withdraw but held him responsible for the atmosphere. “Attitude reflects leadership,” she told MTN, accusing his supporters of bullying her backers. She has blamed Bodnar for splitting the vote by entering as an independent, and said that when the two met last week she asked him to drop out, while acknowledging the decision was his. Democrats and some political observers have previously accused Bodnar’s operation of sexist attacks on Bankhead, an allegation his campaign disputes.

Republicans, meanwhile, appear more concerned about a consolidated field than a divided one. A confidential Senate Leadership Fund memo to donors, obtained by the Washington Reporter, warned that “Republicans must not take the current GOP delegation for granted.” The memo said SLF’s polling shows Alme favored in either head-to-head matchup but stronger against Bodnar than against Bankhead, failing to reach 50% against the Democrat while securing a slight majority against the independent. “Recent chatter that the Independent candidate, Seth Bodnar, plans to withdraw from the race is concerning,” it read, citing a Democratic enthusiasm advantage in the midterm cycle.

The memo attributed Bankhead’s standing to her “consolidating Democrat support” and warned the contest “could divert resources from other critical races.” A national Republican strategist told the Reporter that her military and law enforcement background gives her crossover appeal, and that her grassroots approach has gained more traction than expected.

Alme, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Montana, drew quick Republican consolidation after Sen. Steve Daines’s late retirement announcement.

Even a Bankhead withdrawal would not necessarily remove a Democrat from the ballot. The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has said state law requires the party to name a replacement, though some Democrats have suggested there may be ways around the requirement.

The field also gained a write-in line. Jami Woodman filed as a write-in candidate ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, paying a $1,740 fee. Woodman, who told MTN she lives mostly in Ravalli County and helps family and friends in real estate, was a prominent backer of Reilly Neill, who lost the Democratic primary to Bankhead. She said she is protesting a new state law eliminating write-in lines absent a registered write-in candidate, as well as outside spending in the primary. “It’s time for us to say no to out-of-state billionaires and millionaires coming in here and telling us who to vote for,” she said in a social media video Friday. She cited agriculture, education and rural health care as concerns, with opposition to data center development in Montana as her top priority. Woodman asked the state to count several variations of her name along with the phrase “None of the Above”; the Secretary of State’s Office said it would not approve that, citing a requirement that write-ins include a last name and at least an initial.

Also on the ballot is Libertarian candidate Kyle Austin. Any candidate seeking to withdraw has until 5 p.m. Monday.

With independent expenditures climbing on both sides, the race is shaping up as one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the country, and the tone appears likely to sharpen further before Election Day.

By: Montana Newsroom wire