Seth Bodnar Talks with Alex Wagner on Runaway Country

MISSOULA, MT — In a new interview on Runaway Country with Alex Wagner, Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate Seth Bodnar talked about the groundswell of support for Independent candidates, how our broken political system is driving up costs for Montanans, Montana’s history of fighting against dark money in politics, and how he plans to win in November.  

Excerpts are below. Watch the full interview here.

On support for Independent candidates:

I think there's just a hunger here in Montana and across this country for a different choice. We see a two-party system that's saying, "All right, these are your two options. You have to pick [one]." And most Americans — you're seeing 47% of Americans in a recent Gallup survey said that their political affiliation is independent. [...] I just think you're seeing people that are fed up with a political system in which our leaders just spend their time working to divide us and distract us to win elections rather than bringing us together to solve problems. So you're seeing it across the country because there's just a hunger for something new.”

On a broken political system driving up costs for Montanans:

“Here's two things I think Montanans agree on: our political system is broken, and life is getting more expensive, and it's harder and harder for working families to make ends meet. And I'll tell you, these things are directly correlated. The two parties are spending so much energy fighting each other rather than taking on the dark money and big corporations that are funding and propping up both sides. Nothing's getting fixed. Families are paying the prices. In Montana — nationally, actually — just take one example: agriculture farm bankruptcies in this country are up last year 46% versus the prior year. Farmers are in crisis. Yet Congress hasn't passed a farm bill since 2018.”

On Montana’s history fighting against dark money in politics:

“We've seen this movie in Montana before. A century ago, we had the Copper Kings here in Montana. They tried to buy this state outright. They bought newspapers. They bought legislators. They even tried to buy a US Senate seat. We fought back then. We're fighting back now. Our campaign has been about building a grassroots movement. We collected almost 30,000 signatures to get us on the ballot. We have donations from more than 4,000 individual Montanans. That's multiples of what every other candidate has combined. We have over 1,900 volunteers who believe there's a better way. Republicans, Democrats. I was at an event in Choteau, Montana two weeks ago. [...] We had in that bar at the same time the former head of the Montana Republican Party and the former head of the Montana Democratic Party, both saying, "We need a new approach that brings us together."

On why most Montanans are closer together than Washington wants them to think:

“Most Montanans, politically, if you think about it in terms of a football field, live somewhere between the 25-yard lines. So you've got people on the 40-yard line on the right talking with people on the 40-yard line on the left. They're pretty close together, but they're both forced to choose by voices at the one-yard lines on either side. And so I think both parties are in serious trouble because they haven't been responsive to the frustrations that the American people are seeing. There's a lot of extreme policy positions.”

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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