HELEN, Mont. — In an opinion piece on MS Now, the chairman of the Montana Democratic Party resigned and endorsed independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar.
In the article, Shannon O’Brien states in part: “Right now, the Montana Democratic Party is more divided than ever, not because of our values, but because of the U.S. Senate race. »
O’Brien says she hopes the party can agree that Republican candidate Kurt Alme “does not share our values,” while pointing to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ last-minute decision to withdraw from the race and support Alme.
She also launched an attack on U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, saying President Donald Trump “already has an automatic yes-man.”
She also said the decision to resign and support Bodnar was for the “common good.”
O’Brien also criticized Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alani Bankhead, while raising questions about her beliefs.
In the article, she said, “there are real questions about Democrat Alani Bankhead’s commitment to protecting women’s right to choose, her support for workers and her views on people living in poverty.”
Bankhead sent NBC Montana the following statement:
“Shannon did not change sides today. She has been working against the Democratic nominee since the summer. This summer, she got a legal opinion, without a vote from her own board, on whether the party could refuse to replace me if I resigned, and members of her own board wanted her performance reviewed. Now she is using her exit to campaign for a man who never ran in our primaries. Montana Democrats have chosen their candidate, and the Montanans are voting right now.
The Democratic candidate also sent out a press release responding to all of O’Brien’s claims in her op-ed:
Bankhead campaign – response to Shannon O’Brien (October 12, 2026)PDF preview
View PDF
The Montana Democratic Party said NBC Montana Vice Chairman Bruce Knutson will assume the role of party chairman effective immediately.
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