This unexpected show of support occurred while the Republican candidate was leading in the polls.
Pete Buttigieg brought shock support to Montana’s Senate race.
The former Transportation Secretary, 44, broke ranks with the Democratic Party to support independent candidate Seth Bodnar over Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead.
Pete Buttigieg has endorsed the independent candidate in Montana’s Senate race.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for The Atlantic
“The best leaders I have served with, in uniform and in government, care more about getting the job done than about who gets the credit, and Seth is one of them,” Buttigieg said in a statement first shared with ABC News. “Seth and I don’t agree on everything, but he has spent his adult life serving this country and the next generation…and he will bring that same character to the Senate on behalf of all Montanans.”
“Montana deserves a senator who will fight corruption in Washington, defend reproductive freedom and work on the other side to cut costs and get things done,” he added. “Seth Bodnar will be that senator.”
Independent candidate Seth Bodnar was a Green Beret and former president of the University of Montana.
Michael Thomas Shroyer/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
The release did not mention Bankhead, who is also running against Republican candidate Kurt Alme for the open Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Sen. Steve Daines. Polls show Alme leading his opponents by double digits, although at least three polls give Bodnar a lead of two to six points.
Bankhead, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and federal agent, said in an interview with PBS News last week that the Democratic National Committee offered her a position — “head of veteran candidates at the DNC or something like that” — in exchange for dropping out of the race.
“And I thought, ‘Why should I go work for an organization that’s actively working against me and stabbing me in the back?’ “, she said. “No, I’m not going to do that, then. And I can’t be bought anyway, but that’s the only thing that was put on the table.”
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The DNC rejected Bankhead’s request.
Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead has refused to withdraw from the Montana Senate race.
William Campbell/Getty Images
Bodnar, meanwhile, said he was honored to have Buttigieg’s support. A Green Beret, Bodnar served as president of the University of Montana for eight years.
The independent, 47, said he was “proud that people from all political sides are joining this campaign”.
“Montanans have always voted for person, not party, and they want a senator who will put their families, jobs and public lands ahead of partisan games in Washington. I will respond to Montana and work with anyone who is willing to do the same,” he said.
Democratic Senate candidates in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota abandoned their elections to clear the way for independent candidates, hoping to attract voters who would never choose a Democrat.
But Bankhead, 44, believes this strategy will hurt the party in the long term.
“If you want to rehabilitate the brand, then you do it by rehabilitating the brand, not by supporting independents,” she told the Washington Post.
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