I Just Discovered This Senate Candidate, and His Campaign Started Yesterday
His name is Seth Bodnar. He is running as an independent in Montana. Here’s what I've learned about him.
Like you, I’m paying attention to this year’s midterm landscape, looking for candidates who I believe are fighting for the right things — not for a party, not for donors, but for people. And yesterday, I came across someone I think you should know about.
His name is Seth Bodnar. His campaign is one day old. He could be one of the more compelling political figures to watch in 2026.
Let me tell you what I know.
Who Is Seth Bodnar?
Seth is a 47-year-old from northwestern Pennsylvania who has spent his entire adult life in service — military, academic, and civic. His biography reads like something out of a civics textbook, except it’s real.
He graduated from West Point in 2001, first in his class, with a degree in Economics. He was then selected as a Rhodes Scholar, earning two master’s degrees from Oxford — one in Economics and Social History, and one in Comparative Social Policy. It was at Oxford that he met his wife, Dr. Chelsea Bodnar, a pediatrician and fifth-generation Montanan, who was also a Rhodes Scholar.
After Oxford, Bodnar was commissioned as an infantry officer. He served with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, then completed Special Forces qualification and commanded a Special Forces detachment in the 1st Special Forces Group across multiple deployments. He later served as Special Assistant to the Commanding General in Baghdad. He currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Montana National Guard.
After his military career, he spent six years at GE Transportation, ultimately becoming the division’s first Chief Digital Officer and President of GE Transportation Digital Solutions — a unit with roughly 10,000 employees and $5 billion in revenue.
In January 2018, he became the 19th President of the University of Montana, a role he held for eight years. During his tenure, he reversed a decade-long enrollment decline, achieved Carnegie R1 research classification, increased Native American enrollment by 45.5%, and completed the university’s largest-ever fundraising campaign. He resigned on January 21, 2026 — to run for Senate.
He was raised by two public school teachers. He and Chelsea are raising their three children in Montana.
What He’s Running On
Bodnar filed his candidacy at the Montana Secretary of State’s Office on March 4, 2026, as a political independent.
In his own words: “I’m not a Democrat, I’m an independent — that’s why I’m running that way. I think the primary difference between me and my opponent is that I’m going to go to D.C. with one boss: the people of this state.”
His campaign launch video struck an explicitly anti-partisan tone, framing the current political moment plainly: the country is in crisis, and both national parties are failing the people they’re supposed to serve.
His platform centers on the issues that Montana families are living with: affordable housing, protecting public lands, rural healthcare that isn’t perpetually on the brink of collapse, and schools that are being strengthened rather than undermined. He has pledged to hold town halls across every part of the state, to answer questions directly, and to work with anyone — regardless of party — when it serves Montana’s interests. He’s equally clear that he’ll stand up to anyone when it doesn’t.
The through-line of his campaign is straightforward: the American Dream hasn’t disappeared — it’s been taken. Taken by a political and donor class that has broken the system to enrich itself. Seth Bodnar is running to take it back.
This Race Just Got a Lot More Interesting
For months, the expected matchup was Bodnar vs. Republican incumbent Senator Steve Daines. Daines, a two-term senator who previously chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was the very definition of the Washington establishment Bodnar is running against.
Then, at 4:58 PM on March 4, 2026 — two minutes before the filing deadline — Daines withdrew from the race entirely.
Eight minutes before that deadline, Kurt Alme, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, filed as the Republican candidate, carrying endorsements from Donald Trump, Steve Daines, Governor Greg Gianforte, and Senator Tim Sheehy. It was widely interpreted as a coordinated handoff — a way to install a preferred successor while keeping the filing window too narrow for other Republicans to enter.
Former Senator Jon Tester, who has endorsed Bodnar’s independent bid, called it exactly what it looked like: “They obviously did this to keep certain people out of these races. It wasn’t an accident.”
So the race is now Bodnar vs. Alme — an independent with no party infrastructure taking on a Trump-endorsed candidate in a state Trump carried by roughly 20 points in 2024. It is, by any measure, an uphill climb. But so was everything else on Seth Bodnar’s résumé.
The Path Forward
As an independent, Bodnar doesn’t compete in the June 2 primary. Instead, he must collect approximately 13,327 certified petition signatures by May 26, 2026 to qualify for the November general election ballot. That’s his first real organizational test — and it begins now.
The most recent public polling, conducted in mid-February before Daines’ withdrawal, showed Bodnar trailing Daines by about 9 points in a two-way race. In a three-way race that included a Democratic candidate, his support dropped significantly — which means his path to victory likely depends on whether Democratic candidates ultimately clear the field. The Montana Democratic Party, for its part, has stated it will only support candidates running as Democrats. That tension is the central strategic question of this race, and it remains unresolved.
What is resolved: Seth Bodnar is in this. His petition drive starts now. His fundraising infrastructure is being built from scratch. And for the first time in a long time, Montana has a Senate candidate who answers to no one but the people he wants to serve.
Why I’m Paying Attention
I’m an independent. I’ve never believed that meaningful change comes from party loyalty; it comes from people. From communities. From showing up and doing what’s right regardless of what the political machine tells you.
Seth Bodnar’s story moves me. A man raised by educators who went on to lead soldiers, lead a university, and now wants to lead a state. A West Point graduate who became a Green Beret and then a Rhodes Scholar. A husband and father who chose Montana and is now asking Montana to choose him back.
This is the kind of independent voice that this political moment demands. Not someone who tears people apart. Someone who finds common cause.
I’ll be watching this race closely, and I’ll be sharing more as it develops. In the meantime, get to know Seth Bodnar. Follow his campaign. And if his story moves you the way it moves me, consider supporting it.
Learn more and follow Seth’s campaign:
Instagram: @sethbodnar
Facebook: Seth for Montana
YouTube: Seth for Montana
X: @SethBodnar
Campaign launched March 4, 2026. All facts in this piece are sourced from public reporting, official filings, and campaign materials.
Sources
KTVH Helena — Bodnar announces independent run for Senate — ktvh.com
ABC News — Former Montana university leader Seth Bodnar launches independent campaign against GOP Sen. Daines — abcnews.com
Montana Free Press — Former UM president Seth Bodnar enters Montana Senate race as independent — montanafreepress.org
Montana Free Press — As filings close, Republican Steve Daines withdraws from U.S. Senate race — montanafreepress.org
NBC News — Republican senator Steve Daines of Montana won’t seek re-election — nbcnews.com
NBC Montana — Bodnar announces candidacy for U.S. Senate as independent — nbcmontana.com
Daily Montanan — Bodnar announces independent campaign for U.S. Senate — dailymontanan.com
Daily Montanan — Poll shows Daines with sizable lead over Democratic, independent challengers — dailymontanan.com
Daily Inter Lake — UM President Seth Bodnar to run for Senate as independent — dailyinterlake.com
Daily Inter Lake — Bodnar makes it official, launches bid for U.S. Senate — dailyinterlake.com
Montana Independent — Bodnar Announces Independent Campaign for U.S. Senate — montanaindependent.substack.com
Montana Right Now — Poll shows Daines with sizable lead over Democratic, independent challengers — montanarightnow.com
Washington Times — Former Montana university leader Seth Bodnar launching independent campaign against GOP Sen. Daines — washingtontimes.com
Washington Times — Daines drops out of Senate reelection, hand-picked successor sneaks in before filing deadline — washingtontimes.com
Washington Examiner — Montana Republican Steve Daines to retire after two terms in Senate — washingtonexaminer.com
Newsweek — Democrats’ chances of flipping Montana Senate seat — Poll — newsweek.com
Fox News — Top Trump ally Steve Daines exits Montana Senate race, plans to retire — foxnews.com
Rocky Mountain Outlook — Former Montana university leader Seth Bodnar launches independent campaign against GOP Sen. Daines — rmoutlook.com
KXLH Helena — Bodnar announces independent run for U.S. Senate — kxlh.com
KXLF Butte — First, but possibly not last, independent candidate enters 2026 Montana elections — kxlf.com
Townhall — Montana Sen. Steve Daines Makes a Surprising Announcement — townhall.com
Ballotpedia — United States Senate election in Montana, 2026 — ballotpedia.org
Do you know about the lawsuit his former employer, University of Montana, paid because of his sex discrimination and retalliation against other employees in the workplace?
I’m older than you, so I’ve always been registered as a Democrat so that I could vote in primaries. Chiefly, it started out as voting against Reagan, but my parents always said one must keep an open mind or forfeit learning. My dad was a publisher of a newspaper and my mother was an English teacher. They taught us to read everything we could on a topic and then question the answers. I’m so grateful they taught me that, and I did the same with my children. Independence is important.
I think we’re all pretty fed up with both parties at this point. Read everything you question, then question the answers that you’ve found.