New Reporting Raises More Questions About Alani Bankhead: “I Don’t Think She Is Who She Says She Is”

Washington Post details Bankhead’s far-right ties, questions about her law enforcement record, and Democrats’ growing consolidation behind Independent Seth Bodnar

MISSOULA, MT — In case you missed it, new reporting by the Washington Post examines why so many Montana Democrats are questioning the candidacy of Alani Bankhead, the candidate on the Democratic ticket for U.S. Senate, and are instead backing Independent Seth Bodnar.

The Post’s reporting adds to a growing list of concerns about Bankhead’s candidacy, including her past ties to far-right, anti-choice, and anti-LGBTQ+ institutions, her comments about poverty being a choice, the nearly $1 million in support she’s received from Republican Senator Steve Daines’ super PAC, and her pattern of associating with extremists and antisemites.

Read the full Washington Post article here. Below are key excerpts.

Montana Democrat who refuses to drop out may spoil party’s Senate hopes

Candidate Alani Bankhead vigorously denies claims she is a Republican plant running to take votes away from a more popular independent.

Annie Gowan, October 10, 2026

Her candidacy was boosted with mysterious dark money. Some of her own party have suggested she is a “Republican plant” running a fake campaign.
Bankhead’s detractors have accused her of being a Democrat in name only, noting she attended a right-leaning church, voted for John McCain and self-published a career book for a conservative publisher.
Even her own husband couldn’t say for sure in an interview if she’s always been a Democrat.
Bankhead, 44, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, is a relative newcomer to the state, having only moved here in 2022, an anathema to many Montanans, who fear their rugged paradise is being overrun by outsiders.
Dark money that fueled Bankhead’s rise has dried up, and most of the state’s big-name Democrats have endorsed Bodnar.
Her critics have charged that she exaggerated accounts of coming under fire in Iraq, and questioned the claim that she’s arrested close to a “thousand pedophiles” while working with law enforcement on child-trafficking efforts in Hawaii and elsewhere.
In the spring, Bankhead’s primary campaign was buoyed by dark money. The pop-up political action committee Progressive Vet spent $3.2 million to raise her profile in ads, phone banking and text messaging, then abandoned her candidacy.
Yet her critics have quietly questioned whether she may have exaggerated aspects of her record.
In a March interview on the “Beer, Buds, and the Big Sky” podcast, Bankhead said, “I did not make the sacrifices of deploying and getting shot at and bombed to have my neighbors suffer the way that they are now to put food on the table and put a roof over their head. And so as far as my track record, I’ve arrested hundreds, maybe even over a thousand pedophiles and sex traffickers at this point.”
When asked in an interview to describe the times she personally came under fire, Bankhead said only: “It happened all the time.”
She has a long list of service awards but not an Air Force Combat Action Medal, which is given to airmen who come under fire or who engaged with the enemy in direct fire.
In 2023, she self-published a book on impostor syndrome with Genesis Publishing, which specializes in faith-based and conservative titles — further raising the hackles of Democrats.
Over nearly two hours, the candidates answered questions about health care, data centers, government spending and housing before the spirited crowd that cheered, catcalled and waved campaign placards.
Afterward, Joan Vetter Ehrenberg, a Whitefish Democrat who supports Bodnar, said she had switched because she does not trust Bankhead.
“I don’t think she is who she says she is,” Ehrenberg said. “She was late to the party and doesn’t have experience, so I feel she’s a plant.”

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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