Former Rhodes scholar Seth Bodnar eyes independent Montana Senate bid
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University of Montana president Seth Bodnar does push-ups before a football game in 2024 in Missoula, Montana. Photo: Tommy Martino/University of Montana/Getty Images
University of Montana president Seth Bodnar has resigned from his post to explore an independent bid for the Senate in one of the most expensive states in the 2024 race, according to people familiar with the matter and local press reports.
Why it matters: Bodnar's likely entrance into the Senate race would mark the fourth high-profile independent to challenge a Republican incumbent in a deep red state.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has never publicly claimed that he's pursuing a new strategy, but ActBlue, the Democrats' online donation platform, made it easier for independents to use its technology last summer.
- Registered Democrats face a steep climb in Montana, a state President Trump won by nearly 20 percentage points. Just ask Jon Tester, a three-term Democratic senator who lost in 2024.
- But a well-funded independent candidacy could potentially shake up what was expected to be an easy reelection race for Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
Driving the news: Bodnar's expected run for the Senate as an independent was first reported by the Montana Free Press, which also reported that Tester was apparently supportive of the plan.
- Bodnar could not be reached for comment, but a person close to him said he hadn't made a final decision.
The other side: Republicans were quick to attempt to define Bodnar, a West Point graduate and Rhodes scholar, as a Democrat in independent's clothing.
- "Seth is a longtime Democrat, but that brand is so toxic in Montana that he apparently feels the need to run as an 'independent,'" said Brock Lowrance, a longtime Montana Republican strategist who serves as a top political adviser to Daines and Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.).
- Leadership in Action, a super PAC affiliated with Daines, launched a statewide digital ad on Wednesday criticizing Bodnar for tuition increases at the university and for allowing June Eastwood, a transgender woman, to compete in women's Division I athletics.
Zoom out: In the battle for the Senate in 2026, there are already three independent candidates mounting serious campaigns.
- Two of them are former Democrats, while a third, Dan Osborne, who lost to Sen. Deb Fisher (R-Neb.) as an independent in 2024, is running again this year.
- Todd Achilles, a former Democratic Idaho state representative, is challenging Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) without a D next to his name.
- In South Dakota, Brian Bengs, who ran for the Senate as a Democrat in 2022, has declared against Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) as an independent.
