In the Republican primary, Daines announced he would seek re-election, but withdrew minutes before the filing deadline and endorsed Alme, who filed to run the same day. As the only major Republican candidate, Alme was nominated with 76.2% of the vote. Bankhead won the Democratic nomination with 43.7% of the vote over former state representative Reilly Neill and tribal historic preservation officer Michael Black Wolf. Bodnar, supported by former Democratic senator Jon Tester, launched an independent campaign shortly after resigning from the University of Montana.
Background
Montana is considered to be a red state at the federal level, having not voted for a Democratic president since Bill Clinton's plurality victory in 1992. Recently, the state has also been trending red on a statewide level, as Republicans flipped the governorship in 2020, and the Class I Senate seat in 2024.
Republican primary
The filing deadline for participation in primaries was March 5, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. At 4:52 p.m. Kurt Alme filed to run, and 3 minutes later Steve Daines withdrew. At 5:02 p.m. Daines announced his withdrawal and endorsed Alme. The last minute switch was seen as controversial. Daines's maneuver has been criticized by members of both parties. After the announcement, the Montana Republican Party announced they would not endorse any candidates in any federal races, saying it "supports a competitive primary process to let voters pick their preferred candidates."
Five candidates stood in the Democratic primary. By the end of March, the Democratic field had collectively raised $123,629.43, the vast majority of which was by Reilly Neill, a former state legislator. Neill launched her campaign for Senate immediately following Jon Tester's loss to Tim Sheehy in 2024, and had run a write-in campaign in 2024 for the second district to the U.S. house, after John Driscoll, the Democratic candidate, refused to spend more than $5,000 on his campaign. A poll conducted in late April and early May for the Montana Free Press by Eagleton suggested that the Democratic candidates for Senate were largely unknown by Montanans.
Alani Bankhead, an Air Force veteran based in Helena, had raised just over $10,000 by the end of March, leaving her at a heavy financial disadvantage. However, in May, the Progressive Vet PAC (political action committee) spent $592,000 on mailers in support of Bankhead. Meanwhile, the More Jobs, Less Government PAC invested in ads attacking Neill as a liberal, and saying that Bankhead would work with Donald Trump. The Progressive Vet PAC, founded in April 2026, had former Democratic state representative Moffie Funk as its treasurer, while the More Jobs, Less Government PAC worked to promote the election of Sheehy, a Republican, in 2024. Financial filings by the More Jobs, Less Government PAC declared that their ads were in support of Bankhead, although the Progressive Vet PAC has said that the attack ads are designed to elevate Neill over Bankhead.
Brian Miller, a candidate for the U.S. House in the second district, suggested that Progressive Vet's spending was designed to benefit independent candidate Seth Bodnar, in the hopes Bankhead would win the primary and drop out in support of Bodnar. Neill publicly stated she would not drop out of the general election, and when asked by the Montana Free Press if she would drop out, Bankhead said "not only no, but hell no".
Both Neill and Bankhead campaigned in rural areas of Montana. Neill supported expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act, new educational grants, and rural healthcare, while Bankhead advocated for cuts to red tape, greater accountability in government, and protecting children and the elderly.
The Associated Press called the primary for Bankhead at 9:53pm on election night. Preliminary figures showed Bankhead with 44% of the vote to Neill's 33%. Michael Black Wolf, a tribal historic preservation officer from the Fort Belknap Indian Community, placed third with 13%. Speaking to KTVH about the results of the primary, Jeremy Johnson, a professor from Carroll College who chairs their Department of Political Science and International Relations, said that Republicans were likely to prefer running against both a Democrat and independent, and "if that could be consolidated down to one candidate, it'd be interesting to see what that could look like in November".
Candidates
Nominee
Alani Bankhead, Air Force lieutenant colonel and leadership coach
The Libertarian primary was contested by two candidates — Clancy resident Tom Jandron, and Billings pharmacist Kyle Austin, twice a candidate in the Republican U.S. House primary for the 2nd district. Jandron was unanimously endorsed by Libertarian delegates for Senate at the party's April convention, with the party stating that he was more ideologically aligned to libertarian ideals than Austin.
Austin opposed increasing the size of the federal government and the national debt. He expressed concern about changes by Congress in 2025 to limit access to Medicaid, but supported work requirements for benefits. Jandron supported the Defend the Guard proposal, said that Republicans in Montana had not done enough to counter rising spending or government surveillance, and described himself as an ideological libertarian, having been a member of the party for five years.
Austin won the primary, but was disavowed by the Montana Libertarian Party.
Former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar announced his candidacy as an independent on March 4, 2026, two months after he resigned from the university. He entered the race with the backing of former Democratic senator Jon Tester. Bodnar submitted 29,964 signatures from 52 of Montana's 56 counties to qualify for the ballot. Of those, 21,284 were accepted, exceeding the required 13,327 signatures. Paid signature gatherers who worked on behalf of the Bodnar campaign are under investigation by the Cascade County Sheriff's Office. According to the Cascade County Sheriff's Department, the Bodnar campaign is fully cooperating with the investigation and is not itself accused of wrongdoing.
At a June 15 press conference, her first after winning the June 2 primary, Bankhead stated she would remain in the race and called upon Bodnar to drop out, citing a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against the University of Montana (UM) in 2021. A spokesperson for the Bodnar campaign said that he had taken claims of discrimination seriously while being president of UM, and that no wrongdoing had been found as a result of the lawsuit.
Bodnar also faced criticism from Montana Republicans, who called him an "independent in name only" and portrayed him as a Democrat seeking to avoid the party label. A Republican-aligned super PAC pointed to Bodnar's registration as a Democrat while he lived in Connecticut in 2012; Montana does not register voters by party. His advisers said that he would not join either the Democratic or Republican caucus if elected, and Bodnar said he rejected the idea that he would have to submit to a party leader.
As polls showed Alme likely to win a three-way race, many Democratic leaders called on their nominee, Bankhead, to drop out of the race, believing Bodnar was their best hope to beat Alme.
Since mid-July, Montana Freedom PAC, a political action committee supporting Bodnar, has paid for signs and digital advertising suggesting Bankhead should leave the race. As of early August the committee had spent more than $1 million on advertising benefiting Bodnar.
On the deadline for candidate withdrawal, August 10, HuffPost reported that Bankhead was choosing to stay in the race, keeping it a three-way contest.[bettersourceneeded]
Republicans criticized Bodnar over a transgender athlete's participation in women's sports during his presidency of the University of Montana. Asked about the issue at an August campaign event, Bodnar said he favored fairness in women's sports but believed parents and children should make their own decisions. Alme also criticized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and accused Bodnar of supporting transgender athletes' participation in girls' sports.
12345678Key: A – all adults RV – registered voters LV – likely voters V – unclear
↑The Economist's prediction model uses unconventional terminology. For the purpose of equivalency, their "Very Likely" ratings are formatted as a "Likely" rating while "Likely" ratings are formatted as a "Lean" rating.
↑Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
↑Guggenheim, Benjamin; Kashinsky, Lisa; Razor, Calen; McCarthy, Mia (June 25, 2025). "Johnson warns about a Medicaid backlash". Politico. Retrieved June 25, 2025. Jon Tester won't run for elected office again after losing his Senate seat in the 2024 election, telling our Garrett Downs he's happy in retirement on his Montana farm. He would have been a top recruit for Democrats to take on GOP Sen. Steve Daines next year
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