Bankhead Shows Determination in Montana Senate Race

If Democrat Alani Bankhead was determined before, now she's firmly "dug in" for Montana's U.S. Senate race, even as some members of her own party called for her to step aside.

At a press conference in Helena Monday, just hours before the deadline to drop off the ballot, the Air Force veteran said she will continue to run to represent working Montanans who are fed up with "dark money" trying to influence the state's political choices.

Says she has strong Democratic support

The stand comes after some leading Democrats in the Legislature called for her to step down on Friday, saying Independent Seth Bodnar has a better chance of beating the GOP's pick, Kurt Alme.

"So everybody's entitled to their opinion," Bankhead observed. "That's what a democracy is, and I respect their choice to put out that letter. We are gonna unite the party."

"When the press talks about the party being divided, it is a very small number of people compared to the army of very humble Democrats who stand behind us and are working to recreate the party. It is a new Montana Democratic Party."

"I find this completely unacceptable, disgusting and unethical."- U.S. Senate Candidate Alani Bankhead

Bankhead saved her strongest comments not for her opponents but for the people working to intimidate her into dropping out, saying there was an organized, concerted effort to pressure her family.

"And across the board, whether you're Republican, Democrat, independent, vegetarian, libertarian. I don't care. This behavior is unacceptable," Bankhead said with a touch of anger in her voice.

"And I will tell you, my husband and I are retired special agents. We are both former Pentagon bodyguards. Please try to mess with my family. We are taking actions in terms of, um, not only protecting and safeguarding our family, but also looking at all available options legally speaking as well. But I want to be very, very clear. I will not be intimidated."

      Bankhead said the pressure was coming from "outside interests" all financed by "dark money."

a button with the american flag on top of a one dollar bill

A tough road ahead

Having covered campaigns for years, and financed my own run for local office years ago, it's easy to see Bankhead's biggest challenge will be money, and covering not only the cost of political advertising, but paying the bills for running a campaign in a huge state.

Bankhead trails her opponents for campaign funding by a large margin, but she said she'd rather have support from people with "five dollars in their pocket and a lot of heart."

"They don't want politicians who are bought and paid for, and the Republican and the independent both are taking corporate PAC money. They are accepting dark money. Do not disrespect grassroots Montana efforts because I sure as hell would rather partner with Bill who gave me 5 bucks than the DC corporate interests that pay 6 and 7 figures to manipulate the votes in Montana all day every day."