Senate Candidates

Alani Bankhead-D

House of Representatives District 1 Candidate

Sam Forstag (MT-01) is a smokejumper and union leader, running to make sure working people have a voice in Congress. He was raised by a mom who picked up extra nursing shifts and a dad who became a public school teacher, and both made just enough to get by. Sam spent years working across western Montana as a wildland firefighter and organizing and advocating for working Montanans, public education, libraries, healthcare, and constitutional freedoms between fire seasons.

When DOGE came after Montana's public servants and public lands, Sam fought back. Now, he’s ready to go to Congress to take on the corruption and corporate influence in Washington and fight for the housing, healthcare, and childcare Montana families deserve.

Photo and statement provided by the Sam Forstag campaign.

Public Service Commission District 5

Kevin Hamm

Democratic Candidates

General Election November 3, 2026

Alani Bankhead is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, former federal special agent, and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate representing Montana in the 2026 election. Her career has centered on national security, law enforcement, intelligence, and protecting vulnerable people. She served two decades across the military, federal government, and nonprofit sectors, including work involving terrorism, human trafficking, and child protection. Her platform is focused on accountability, affordability, protecting the vulnerable, education, agriculture, and public lands. She is the only U.S. Senate candidate against AI data centers and for universal healthcare. And she is the only candidate with trusted relationships in DC from the last 21 years of holding corruption accountable.

Photo and statement provided by the Bankhead campaign

Sam Forstag

Seth Bodnar-I

Seth Bodnar has spent his life in service. He served in Iraq as a Green Beret, still serves in the Montana National Guard, and spent eight years as president of the University of Montana. He and his wife Chelsea, a pediatrician and fifth-generation Montanan, are raising their three kids in Missoula.

Seth is running for the Senate as an independent because Montanans are tired of a Washington that works for national party insiders and big donors instead of the people. He'll fight to ban stock trading by members of Congress, get corporate money out of our elections, and hold Congress accountable when it fails to do its job. Most of all, Seth will show up for Montana. That means families struggling with the cost of housing, rural communities fighting to keep their hospitals open, and the farmers and ranchers who feed this country. He doesn't answer to either party. He answers to us.

Endorsed by the Granite County Democrats

Photo and statement provided by the Bodnar campaig