ICYMI
Montana Free Press: Bodnar grounds his independence in a biography outside of partisan politics
New profile highlights Bodnar’s cross-partisan coalition, his military and leadership record, and a detailed agenda to lower costs, end corruption, and restore Congress’s checks on power
MISSOULA, MT — In case you missed it, the Montana Free Press published an in-depth profile of Independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar, examining his campaign to build a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents frustrated with partisan conflict and rising costs. The profile highlights Bodnar’s growing support from leaders across the political spectrum, including four of the Montana Democratic Party’s five most recent chairs and former Republican Governor Marc Racicot, along with his detailed plans to lower costs, enforce antitrust laws, protect Social Security, and restore Congress’s constitutional authority over war and trade.
Read the full profile here. Below are key excerpts:
Can Montanans be persuaded by Seth Bodnar’s anti-partisan platform?
By Tom Lutey, Montana Free Press
Since the start of his campaign for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat, Seth Bodnar has insisted that there’s political space between Republicans and Democrats where a candidate might find or form a core of Montanans defined and driven by frustrations with partisan conflict and rising costs.
“Our goal here is to build a broad coalition, to give voice to the largest voting bloc,” the race’s independent candidate told Montana Free Press shortly after qualifying for the ballot in June with the help of 30,000 petition signers. “We believe we can build what we call the sensible majority.”
Polling conducted for Montana Free Press by Rutgers University’s Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling showed 42% of registered Montana voters identifying as independent in early May. The next-largest group, 39%, identified as Republican, while 19% identified as Democrat. The polling suggested that both major parties — Democrats especially — need the same independent voters Bodnar is courting to assemble their own winning coalition.
Bodnar grounds his claim of independence in a biography shaped largely outside of partisan politics. He is a Green Beret and Iraq War veteran who finished first in his class at West Point, where he also taught economics; a Rhodes scholar and Truman scholar with two graduate degrees from the University of Oxford; and General Electric’s first chief digital officer. From 2018 until earlier this year, he was president of the University of Montana in Missoula.
“When you’re leading a platoon from the 101st Airborne Division and you’re outside a door of a suspected terrorist safe house waiting to kick it down, you know what question never comes up? ‘What party do you belong to.’ We’re focused on the mission, focused on taking care of each other and getting the job done. That is the spirit of veterans. They are country first, and we’re running a campaign that is a true Montana-first campaign,” Bodnar said.
The Bodnar campaign has enlisted strong support from Montana’s former Democratic U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, as well as Nancy Keenan, the former state Democratic Party leader and former president of the abortion-rights group NARAL. Four of the Montana Democratic Party’s five most recent chairs have endorsed Bodnar, including Shannon O’Brien, who resigned as chair Oct. 12 in conjunction with her endorsement announcement. Bodnar’s Republican supporters include former Republican National Committee Chair and Montana governor Marc Racicot, former state Republican Party Chair Susan Geise and former Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois.
[...] Bodnar has laid out detailed policy positions that he says would restore the balance of power between Congress and the president, stabilize Montana’s rural economy and refocus Montana’s priorities in the Senate. Regarding congressional war powers, Bodnar’s sharpest difference with Alme is about the Iran war, which the independent candidate has called “senseless and illegal.” Bodnar argues that Congress has surrendered its constitutional authority to check military action by presidents of either party.
Diesel prices exceeding $6 a gallon and rising fertilizer costs are consequences of the war, Bodnar said, and he links them to broader inflation trends. Bodnar insisted the Senate needs to “force the commander in chief to make the case” before committing U.S. forces to conflicts.
Central to Bodnar’s appeal to right-leaning voters is responsible spending. The $40 trillion national debt is evidence of what he calls a “moral failure” by both parties and proof of congressional dysfunction. Republicans raising debt concerns only when a Democrat is president is a symptom of the problem, he said. “Washington, D.C., is spending like drunken sailors,” he said, adding that future generations will bear the costs.
On gun rights, Bodnar supports the Second Amendment. “I’m a gun owner myself. I support the Second Amendment right of every American, and I don’t believe that we need to infringe on the rights of law-abiding Montanans. Now, what I do think is that we need to take action and make sure that we’re doing the things we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people experiencing a mental health crisis, but we need to do that while ensuring and protecting due process rights.”
Taken together, those positions reflect Bodnar’s effort to draw support across ideological lines rather than fit neatly within either party’s platform. Whether that space between parties is large enough to carry Bodnar to the Senate remains the central test of his candidacy. With absentee ballots already in voters’ hands and the Nov. 3 election less than a month away, Bodnar closed his Oct. 11 debate performance by returning to the anti-partisan argument at the center of his campaign.
“Today, Washington, D.C., is filled with cowards — cowards who answer to their party bosses and their corporate donors. They spout party-line talking points, like you’ve heard on this stage today. They work for the insiders, but not for you,” Bodnar said. “We have a chance in Montana to tell Washington, D.C., that neither party owns this state and that nobody gets to take us for granted. Because you know what? Montana is my party, and I hope all of you will join me.”
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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