Joe Hancock for Montana
Guest Post From Gallatin County
Joe Hancock, the Gallatin County Democratic Chair and President of the MSU-Bozeman chapter of MFPE-FOCUS #8521 was born and raised in Big Timber and served in the U.S. Air Force before returning to Montana. He is committed to strengthening relationships, finding common ground among urban and rural communities, and reestablishing Montana Democrats as the party of the working class.
Multiple people have asked me if the Gallatin Democrats would consider supporting Seth Bodnar, the independent candidate for the U.S. Senate, since Jon Tester has declared that a Democrat can’t win in Montana. I do not support Seth Bodnar’s candidacy. The mission of the Democratic Party is to support Democratic candidates for office.
Democrats across Montana are already struggling for resources to help local candidates after the consulting firm composed of former Democratic Party staff, Fireweed, pushed financial support to losing Republicans during the primary. Seth Bodnar is soaking up political donations that will be wasted on another destructive top-down campaign while county and state government candidates are left out in the cold.
Democrat In Disguise?
Seth Bodnar is trying to gaslight Montana voters, masquerading as an independent while actually being a milquetoast moderate Democrat. Despite characterizing himself as “building a different kind of campaign—powered by people who are done sitting on the sidelines and ready to fight for the kind of leadership Montana deserves,” his actions tell a different story. Seth Bodnar’s campaign is funded by prominent Democratic donors, endorsed by Democratic partner organizations, and operated by former Democratic Party consultants.
These consultants are unironically branding the Republican nominee in this race as “Washington’s hand-picked insider candidate, backed by the same partisan interests that have spent years ignoring working families.” Seth Bodnar was hand-picked by Tester and dodged a primary where he would have had to compete with stronger candidates to earn Montanans’ votes.
The Choice of An Aging Establishment
Seth Bodnar has not been focusing enough on Montanans. Instead, he has been hosting fundraisers in cities like Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Atherton, CA. His money comes from donors that know nothing and care not about what Montana’s working families need or deserve.
Seth Bodnar is the face of a new Know-Nothing Party led by his benefactors, Jon Tester, Max Baucus, and Marc Racicot. These retired politicians were relevant in a time when our state was stuck in a meaningless middle that ignored rural communities and alienated the voters who live in them.
A Uniparty State For The Future
Some hope that Seth Bodnar’s candidacy will lead to the end of the two-party system in Montana. That would only happen if the resulting fragmentation of progressive voters allows Republican power to galvanize, effectively making this a one-party state for the foreseeable future.