Independent Seth Bodnar Will Fight to End the VA Hiring Crisis in Montana

MISSOULA, MT — As Montana’s Independent voice in the U.S. Senate, Green Beret and Independent candidate Seth Bodnar will push to reverse the staffing cuts that have left Montana veterans waiting weeks and months for the care they earned, and end a VA hiring crisis that has hit Montana harder than most.

"I spent nearly a decade in uniform, and the deal was simple: you serve, and this country is there when you come home," said Bodnar. "A veteran who finally works up the courage to ask for help should not be told to come back in six months. The politicians who made that decision in Washington aren't the ones living with it. Montana veterans are. They kept their promise to this country, and I'll fight every day to make sure this country keeps its promise to them."

VA staffing in Montana fell by nearly 9 percent between January and December 2025, part of the largest single-year staffing decline in the VA's history. Nationally, the VA cut nearly 28,000 employees, including more than 2,700 nurses, over 1,000 medical officers, and more than 1,000 psychologists and social workers. Some Montana veterans have reported waiting up to six months for an appointment with a psychiatrist—in a state where the veteran suicide rate is 53.9 per 100,000, well above the national veteran suicide rate of 35.2.

Bodnar's Montana First Veterans Agenda calls for streamlined VA hiring authority and Montana-specific recruitment incentives, restoring the mental health staffing cut from VA Montana, and expanding the Community Care Network so veterans in rural counties can see local providers instead of driving hours to a VA facility. It also calls for VA partnerships with Montana hospitals, like the Billings Clinic, to recruit and train the next generation of doctors who will serve veterans in rural Montana.

Bodnar is meeting with veterans and community members in Great Falls this evening as part of his "Showing Up" statewide tour. He has been endorsed by VoteVets, the nation's largest progressive veterans organization, and by Independent Veterans of America.

Seth Bodnar is a Green Beret, business leader, and former president of the University of Montana running for the U.S. Senate to be an independent voice for Montana. Seth is guided by a lifelong commitment to duty, honor, and country. He graduated first in his class at West Point and served multiple overseas deployments, leading soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Special Forces Group, and serving as a special advisor to the commanding general in Iraq. After his military service and a successful career in business, Seth spent the last eight years leading the University of Montana. Under his leadership, the university achieved record high graduation rates, doubled research funding, launched the largest infrastructure renewal in campus history, restored financial stability, and was named the #1 military-friendly university in the country. Raised by two public school teachers, he believes leadership is about service, not party loyalty. Seth and his wife, a fifth-generation Montanan, are raising their three children in Montana.

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