ICYMI
NRSC Tries and Fails to Censor Kurt Alme’s Shocking Record of Refusing to Prosecute Sex Crimes
The same D.C. Party Bosses who installed Kurt Alme on the ballot are now trying to hide his record.
MISSOULA, MT — In case you missed it, the Montana State News Bureau reports that the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a cease-and-desist letter to Montana television stations last week, demanding they pull an ad exposing Kurt Alme's shocking record as U.S. Attorney.
“The same D.C. Party Bosses who installed Kurt Alme on the ballot are trying to bury his record to hide the fact that the majority of sexual abuse cases that came through his office went unprosecuted and to hide the deal he cut to let a man who sexually abused a six-year old serve less than a year in prison,” said Kelly Webster, spokesperson for the Bodnar campaign. “Real survivors, real families, failed by the man who's now asking Montanans to send him to the Senate. That's not a record that can be buried by a legal threat.”
According to the latest polling, Bodnar currently leads Democrat Alani Bankhead by 18 points, and after voters hear his message, he leads the race outright over Republican Kurt Alme. As voters continue to learn about Bankhead's past ties to far-right, anti-choice, and anti-LGBTQ institutions — and Alme's record declining to prosecute up to 79 percent of sexual abuse cases as U.S. Attorney — Republicans, Democrats and Independents are consolidating around Seth Bodnar.
Read the full story here. Below are key excerpts:
“NRSC sends cease-and-desist letter to Montana stations over anti-Alme ad”
Carly Graf, September 24, 2026
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP organization that supports candidates running for the upper chamber, sent a cease-and-desist letter last week to Montana television stations demanding they pull an ad attacking Alme’s record as U.S. attorney. Specifically, the ad alleges that Alme refused to prosecute a majority of sex crime cases that crossed his desk.
Stations rejected the NRSC request and will continue running the ad, according to emails reviewed by the Montana State News Bureau. “Something is going on. Obviously, the NRSC does not like this ad, which, I think, maybe means it’s a good ad,” said Jessi Bennion, political science professor at Montana State University. “It hits a nerve that they don’t want to be out there.”
Alme was appointed by President Donald Trump twice to serve as U.S. Attorney, and he’s made his law enforcement chops a central part of his platform [...] Bodnar has looked to chip away at that credibility. At a campaign stop in Missoula earlier this month, the independent incorporated into his stump speech the allegation that Alme had declined to prosecute 70% of the alleged sexual abuses that came across his desk while U.S. Attorney. “We need leaders who are going to stand up and fight for Montana,” Bodnar said to a packed bar.
Department of Justice data shows that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana did not prosecute 64% of reported sexual assault cases between fiscal years 2015 and 2019. The decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to not pursue charges was especially common during that time in Indian Country cases throughout the state. Alme served in the role for his first term from 2017 to 2020.
Bodnar’s team also points to figures from Alme’s first term that show his office chose not to prosecute up to 47% of all cases referred to it as a sign that the tough-on-crime message rings hollow.
Nationally, the U.S. Department of Justice has a long track record of choosing not to pursue cases from Indian Country, where jurisdictional overlap and poor relationships with Native communities can complicate prosecution efforts. Many of those cases in Montana and across the country involve allegations of sexual assault that go unaddressed.
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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