Shannon O’Brien resigned as chair of the Montana Democratic Party on Monday, effective immediately. Vice Chair Bruce Knutson is now the state party chair.
O’Brien, almost immediately after stepping down, endorsed independent Seth Bodnar over her party’s own US Senate nominee, Alani Bankhead.
This move came the day after incumbent Republican Sen. Kurt Alme debated Bodnar, Bankhead, and Libertarian Kyle Austin (who does not have the support of the state Libertarian Party…yes, it’s an interesting race) in Bozeman.
She’s not the first Democrat to endorse the independent over the party nominee. Earlier in the cycle, former Democratic Senator Jon Tester’s pushed Bodnar as a nonpartisan alternative over a Democratic nominee.
At the time, O’Brien responded to Tester’s move by describing her role narrowly: “My number one job is to get Democrats elected.” O’Brien appears to have decided she could not keep the title and also say what she believes: that Bodnar offered the best chance at unseating an incumbent Republican.
Her Own Explanation
O’Brien made her case in an op-ed for MS NOW. She presented the move as putting principle ahead of party labels. She wrote that she ran for chair to unify Democrats, but the party is now more divided than ever.
However, the cause of the rift, according to O’Brien, is not values but the approach to the Senate race. She called resigning and endorsing a choice made for the “greater good.”
She joins a long list (which she includes in her op-ed) of Democratic politicians and leaders who are also supporting the independent, including former senators and governors Jon Tester, Steve Bullock, Max Baucus
O’Brien’s argument went beyond who can win. She wrote that Bankhead “does not have the momentum, resources or will to win this race.” She also questioned Bankhead’s commitment to what she believes to be core Democratic values, including abortion rights, a focus on working people, and to Montanans living in poverty.
Bankhead’s stated position is pro-choice, but Bodnar points to discrepancies in her application for an endorsement from Planned Parenthood in questioning her actual stance.
O’Brien also pointed to More Jobs, Less Government. That PAC backed Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehy in 2024, and it spent about $700,000 promoting Bankhead before the June primary.
It should be noted, however, that both Republican and Democratic PACs have been backing candidates they believe are more beatable in the general election during the other party’s primary, so money spent to support a candidate doesn’t necessarily imply agreement with their stances; sometimes, it’s quite the opposite.
Bankhead’s Response
Bankhead treated the resignation as proof of what she’s been claiming has been true of the Democratic Party in Montana throughout her candidacy. She told The Hill that O’Brien had worked against her as the Democratic nominee since the summer and is now “using her exit to campaign for a man who never ran in our primary.”
She added that Montana Democrats picked her as their nominee and voters are already casting ballots.
Why It Matters
O’Brien joins a growing list of Democratic-aligned backers of Bodnar. Outside of the earlier named individuals, groups such as VoteVets, Montana Conservation Voters, Wild Montana, and the Montana AFL-CIO have endorsed the independent.
By stepping down first, O’Brien separated the institution from the individual. Under former Vice Chair Knutson, the party apparatus remains formally behind its nominee, Alani Bankhead.
Meanwhile, one of its most senior figures is arguing, as a private citizen, that the priority should be unseating the Republican with a candidate who is more likely to win and closer to the Democratic Party in values.
The highest quality and most recent poll from MTFP-Eagleton from September showed Alme leading Bodnar by eight points 38-30, with Bankhead 14 points behind Bodnar. O’Brien might be betting that much of that gap is Democrats who haven’t yet come around on the idea of voting for an independent over their party’s nominee.
Her resignation just might be an effort on her part to give them that permission, elevating a candidate she believes to be the best chance at unseating someone she has called a puppet for Trump. Only November will show if that works out.