Bodnar positions himself against 'party bosses' in campaign kickoff for Montana Senate seat

Former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar strode into the Capitol on Wednesday to file as an independent for the U.S. Senate, making official one of the worst-kept secrets in state politics so far this election cycle.

"The primary difference between me and my opponent is that I'm going to D.C. with one boss, the people of this state," he said while taking questions from reporters at the state Capitol on Wednesday. "I'm not going to be beholden to any party interests. I'm going to work with anyone from any party to develop common sense solutions for the challenges we face."

Bodnar, 46, entered a contest that had been seen by many political analysts as a surefire win for two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Steve Daines.

However, with only minutes left in the state's campaign filing window Wednesday evening, Daines announced he would be retiring from public office and not seek reelection. Kurt Alme, U.S. District Attorney of Montana, filed for the seat almost simultaneously and received the endorsement of Daines.

He spoke about housing, tariffs and the national debt all as issues that require a nonpartisan touch in a tightly gridlocked Washington, D.C.

"No one's doing anything about it," he said. "Montanans are an independent people and they deserve an independent voice who's going to go to the U.S. Senate and fight for them every single day, not fighting for a political party, but standing up for Montanans."

Whispers of Bodnar’s political debut have been circulating for weeks following reports that former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who remains in many ways the standard bearer of the Democratic Party in Montana, had been quietly urging the veteran-turned-higher-education-administrator to run and lining up support from party insiders to back him as an independent challenger. Bodnar stepped down last month from the UM presidential post, fanning the speculation.

An early Wednesday announcement of his campaign, riddled with references to how the two party system has failed Montanans, immediately silenced any question about Bodnar entering the mix as a Democrat.

"It's simple, I'm an independent," Bodnar told reporters later that morning. "… More than 40% of Montanans identify as an independent. People are fed up with the political system. It's not working for them, it's working for D.C. insiders and elites who divide us."

Polling released in recent weeks showed Bodnar has uphill battle ahead.

When running as an independent candidate in a three-way general election with Daines and Democrat Reilly Neill, Bodnar polled at 16% as an independent candidate, while Neill pulled 25% and Daines got support from 52%. In another scenario, Bodnar without a Democrat in the general election polled at 42% while Daines nabbed 51%. If respondents were considering Bodnar as a Democrat, he polled at 40% while Daines made his best showing at 54%.

Bodnar’s campaign launch was accompanied by a nearly three-minute long video touting his background as a United States Army Special Forces veteran and appealing to Montana’s vision of itself as a maverick electorate that bucks party trends.

“We need a new approach, an independent senator who will fight for hardworking Montanans,” he says in a voiceover during the video. “A leader driven by common sense, civility and patriotism who will bring us together to generate solutions, not outrage.”

Tester hesitated to give Bodnar an outright endorsement ahead of the announcement, but told the Montana State News Bureau on Tuesday that there was plenty to be excited about with his candidacy.

“If we could get somebody like Seth Bodnar, then why not?”

Bodnar climbed the executive ranks at General Electric before taking on the UM president role as a fresh-faced 38-year-old, where he was tasked with steering the campus out of a protracted enrollment slump. His eight-year tenure, which included swapping cuts to programs and staff, plays a far smaller role in his first pitch to voters, but will certainly be fodder for the opposition launched against him.

Only hours after Bodnar stepped down from the university’s top post last month, a conservative political action group released an advertisement criticizing his leadership and tying him to issues traditionally associated with a progressive platform.

Even before Wednesday’s announcement, Bodnar’s rumored decision to enter the race as an independent had raised questions about the Montana Democratic party brand and whether, like Tester asserted in leaked text messages first reported by the Montana State News Bureau, it would doom even the best candidate.

Party officials were upset by the notion that Tester, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Montana, would back an independent; however the former senator has continued to maintain there’s too much hay being made about Bodnar’s party affiliation.

“I want somebody who is going to represent Montana and is going to come back and do town hall meetings and talk to constituents about what they want to see in D.C.,” Tester said. “I just want them to be responsive to Montana and Montana’s issues, and right now that ain’t happening with Steve Daines.”

Nevertheless, state party leaders have coalesced behind a unified message: They will only support Democratic candidates and they believe Democrats can win all over the state.

"The mission of the Montana Democratic Party is to support candidates who run as Democrats. Full stop," said state party chair Shannon O'Brien in a statement Wednesday morning. "We do not support candidates outside of the party, and our bylaws prevent us from doing so."

Four Democrats have filed to run for the Senate seat, including Neill, a former state lawmaker from Livingston; Michael Black Wolf, a tribal historic preservation officer from Hays; Michael Hummert from Helena; and Alani Bankhead from Helena.

"I have a message from Seth Bodnar," Neill, who filed to run for Senate this week, said on social media Wednesday. "Montana has never elected an Independent. The question is: why is he helping Daines? Why didn't he file as the Dem he claims to be and get into the primary?"

As an independent candidate, Bodnar will have to collect at least 13,327 verified signatures and submit them to the secretary of state’s office by May 26 in order to be on the ballot.

Libertarian Kyle Austin has also filed to run for the office.