Alani Bankhead says the party is pressuring her to cede the field to an independent candidate.
Alani Bankhead, a Montana Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, says a Democratic senator offered her a job with the Democratic National Committee if she agreed to drop out of the upcoming midterm election and cede the field to an independent candidate who the party believes has a better chance of besting Republican Kurt Alme.
If the exchange occurred as Bankhead described, the lawmaker responsible would be guilty of violating state law, Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus told National Review.
The alleged violation falls under MCA 13-35-221, which prohibits offering “valuable consideration” to induce someone to enter or withdraw from a political race. A knowing violation is classified as a criminal misdemeanor under the state’s election laws.
Throughout the race, Democratic activists and operatives have urged Bankhead to drop out to avoid taking support from independent candidate Seth Bodnar, who is campaigning for the same bloc of voters. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Bankhead wrote that hundreds of people have urged her to drop out, via emails, phone calls, and signed letters. Calls to drop out also came from powerful figures within the party, Bankhead wrote.
“A sitting U.S. senator offered me a job, presumably if I would leave the race,” she wrote. “A sitting Democratic governor called and asked me to step aside. Former Montana governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, invited me to coffee. And a former Cabinet official left a voicemail offering to ‘be a sounding board.’ I refused them all.”
In an interview with PBS Montana, Bankhead specified that the job she was offered was with the DNC.
“They offered to be — and I’m probably going to butcher this — but the DNC’s head of female veteran candidates, or something like that,” Bankhead said. “And I was like ‘Why would I go work for an organization that is actively working against me and stabbing me in the back?’ Like, I’m not going to do that, so. And I can’t be bought anyway, but that was the only thing put on the table.”
The pressure on Bankhead seems intended to provide a clear path to victory for Bodnar, whose success undoubtedly hinges on Bankhead leaving the race.
The Bodnar campaign told National Review that it has no knowledge of the exchange Bankhead described.
“Seth has never asked Alani to drop out, and no one on our campaign has any knowledge of or involvement in any offer to get her to drop out,” Bodnar campaign spokesperson Kelly Webster told National Review in a statement. “Meanwhile, Alani has repeatedly urged Seth to drop out because she is trailing in every poll and understands she does not have the resources or support to win without pushing someone else off the ballot.”
When asked about Bankhead’s comments, a DNC official told National Review that the organization has never extended a job offer to Bankhead.
National Review similarly reached out to the Bankhead campaign to confirm the offer and determine who specifically spoke with Bankhead, but the campaign declined to provide additional details.
“Alani described the offer in her PBS interview. She said no and stayed in the race. Questions about why it was made belong with the people who made it,” Bankhead’s chief of staff, Kaight Meyers, told National Review in a statement. “If an inquiry is opened, she’ll cooperate fully, but we won’t discuss the details publicly while that’s possible.”
If a complaint is brought forth, Gallus said his office will pursue it and investigate to the full extent. Further, even if an attempt was made to offer a job to Bankhead, that still qualifies as a violation of the law, Gallus explained.
“If that [job offer] indeed occurred, it’s a serious matter. It’s a violation of Montana law, and citizens should know that we take it seriously, and we will investigate it, and we will enforce it,” Gallus said. “It is potentially a violation, and we intend to pursue this.”
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen similarly spoke out against the potential violation, saying his office will be contacting the Bankhead campaign, Bodnar campaign, and the Democratic National Committee, in a post on X.
A recent Quantus Insights poll found Kurt Alme, the Republican running against Bankhead and Bodnar, is leading with 44 percent, compared to Bankhead’s 21 percent and Bodnar’s 28 percent. If either candidate were not in the race, whoever remained would be a far more formidable candidate against Alme in November.
National Review previously reported on Bodnar’s progressive record, which includes allowing a transgender athlete to compete on the women’s cross-country team while serving as president of the University of Montana. He also has connections to Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and former Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who both supported Bodnar and his candidacy. Similarly, Bodnar’s Federal Election Commission filings revealed similar ties to other progressive policies and establishment Democrats.
With Montana’s August 10 withdrawal deadline having long passed, even if Bankhead did drop out, her name would still appear on the November ballot.
Even if it were before the August deadline, Montana election code requires a party, in this case the Democratic Party, to replace any candidate who drops out post-primary. The state Democratic Party has similar bylaws, which say the state central committee must fill any vacancies.
Gallus said that while this is a race for a federal office, the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute still lies within his office. The federal government may want to pursue its own investigation if the Department of Justice believes any federal laws were broken.
Alme, Bankhead, Bodnar are campaigning to fill a vacancy left by Senator Steve Daines (R., Mont.) who announced his retirement abruptly before the filing deadline.