US Midterms 2026
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Seth Bodnar, a former University of Montana president, Army veteran and Rhodes Scholar, is running as an independent for Montana's open U.S. Senate seat in 2026.
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The candidates for Montana’s U.S. Senate race (clockwise from upper left): independent Seth Bodnar, Democrat Alani Bankhead, Republican Kurt Alme and Libertarian Kyle Austin.
Seth Bodnar (I) is a West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and former Green Beret who served in Iraq. He led the University of Montana from 2018 until January 2026.
He did not mention Seth Bodnar, the independent in the Montana Senate race who is backed by top Democrats in the state.
Independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar enters the Montana Club in Helena on Sept. 29.
Montana's 2026 U.S. Senate candidates. Left to right: Alani Bankhead (D), Kurt Alme (R), Kyle Austin (L), Seth Bodnar (I).
Alani Bankhead, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, talks during the 48th annual Mansfield Metcalf Dinner on March 7 in Helena.
Bankhead“I realized that there are still people, good Democrats, who are undecided, who are struggling with this decision.
No story this week names this candidate.
Seth Andrew Bodnar was born on February 2, 1979, and grew up in Franklin, Pennsylvania, the son of two educators. He finished at the top of his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, receiving a B.S. in economics, and as a Rhodes Scholar and Truman Scholar he studied at Hertford College, Oxford, earning master's degrees in economic and social history and in comparative social policy.
Bodnar served with the 101st Airborne Division, deploying to Iraq from 2003 to 2004, and later joined the Army's 1st Special Forces Group as a Green Beret, commanding a detachment on further overseas deployments; he served in Iraq as the commanding general's special assistant and was deployed to Baghdad in 2008.
He then taught economics as an assistant professor at West Point. He joined General Electric in 2011 and became chief digital officer of GE Transportation, overseeing its digital hub for railway technology.
In January 2018 he took office as the University of Montana's 19th president; the university received the Carnegie R1 classification in 2022 and recorded a 5.6% rise in first-year students in 2024. He resigned the presidency in January 2026.
He is an officer in the Montana National Guard and held the rank of lieutenant colonel as of 2022.
Bodnar declared an independent candidacy for the U.S. Senate on March 4, 2026, backed by Jon Tester, the former Democratic senator. Hours later Republican incumbent Steve Daines withdrew and endorsed former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, making the contest Montana's first open Senate race since 1976.
Bodnar qualified for the ballot by petition, with 21,284 of his 29,964 submitted signatures accepted against 13,327 required.
In the June 2 primaries, Alme won the Republican nomination with 76.2% of the vote, Air Force officer Alani Bankhead took the Democratic nomination with 43.7% and Kyle Austin won the Libertarian primary, setting up a four-way general election on November 3.
His advisers said he would sit with neither party's caucus if elected. On October 12, 2026, Montana Democratic Party chair Shannon O'Brien resigned her post to endorse him.
