The chair of the Montana Democratic Party resigned the position Monday and became the latest Democrat to endorse an independent candidate over the party’s Senate nominee, Alani Bankhead.
Erstwhile chair Shannon O’Brien wrote on MS NOW that there were “real questions” about Bankhead’s “commitment to protecting a woman’s right to choose, her support of working people and her views of people living in poverty.”
She joined fellow Montana Democrats, including former senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus, in endorsing independent Seth Bodnar instead.
“I wish the Democrat who is really a Republican would get out,” Tester told The Washington Post last week.
Bankhead said O’Brien has been working against her for months.
“Shannon didn’t switch sides today,” she said in a statement. “This summer she got a legal opinion, without a vote of her own board, on whether the party could refuse to replace me if I quit, and her own board members wanted her performance reviewed for it. Now she’s using her exit to campaign for a man who never ran in our primary.
“Montana Democrats chose their nominee, and Montanans are voting right now.”
Party leaders have alleged Bankhead is a Democrat in name only, or even a Republican plant. They say she attended a right-leaning church, voted for John McCain and h—as benefited from Republican spending.
“I think there are many Montana Democrats who are still undecided,” O’Brien told The Post on Monday. “I thought I might send a message letting them know it’s okay to vote for an independent.”
Bankhead, a retired Air Force officer and life coach, won the Democratic primary in June for the seat now held by Republican Steve Daines. She has said she will not drop out of the race.
Daines, 64, is not seeking reelection; the Republican nominee, former U.S. attorney Kurt Alme, is favored to win.
Bankhead, O’Brien wrote, “has not sought a conversation around shared values and has refused advice from experienced business and political leaders around the state. For someone almost brand new to Montana, her refusal to listen and learn is puzzling and jarring.
“She has also benefited from Republican spending designed to split the opposition and clear a path for Alme,” O’Brien wrote. “Democrats should ask themselves why Republicans so badly wanted her on the ballot.”
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