DNC denies Bankhead’s claim she was offered job to drop out of Montana Senate race

Democrat Alani Bankhead said in a recent interview she was offered a Democratic National Committee (DNC) job to drop out of the Montana Senate race — an allegation the DNC denies.

Bankhead is running against Independent Seth Bodnar and Republican Kurt Alme for the open Senate seat. She’s faced calls to exit the race to increase the chance of Alme losing the contest.

“They offered to be, and I’m probably going to butcher this, but the DNC’s head of female veteran candidates or something like that,” Bankhead said in an Oct. 15 interview with Montana PBS.

She stated her immediate response was, “Like, why would I go work for an organization that is actively working against me and stabbing me in the back? Like, no, I’m not going to do that.”

“And I can’t be bought anyway, but that was the only thing that was put on the table,” Bankhead concluded.

A DNC official told The Hill on Wednesday that Bankhead was never offered a job by the committee.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) wrote on social media Wednesday that Bankhead’s allegation was “extremely concerning. If this is true, it appears to be a violation of Montana Code Annotated 13-35-221.”

Knudsen added that his office would be contacting Bankhead, Bodnar and the DNC to investigate.

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) urged Knudsen to look into the situation in a social media post , writing: “Attorney General Knudsen is right to investigate this blatant attempt at bribery. The DNC is playing dirty in Montana.”

In a Washington Post op-ed published earlier this month, Bankhead wrote that 22 Democratic state legislators signed a letter asking for her to drop out, and she received a job offer from an unnamed U.S. senator, “presumably if I would leave the race.” She also claimed a Democratic governor contacted her to ask her to quit the race.

A spokesperson for Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen (R) told Semafor in late July that even if Bankhead were to drop out, the secretary “took an oath to uphold the law, and Montana law plainly states that if a party’s candidate withdraws, that political party shall appoint a replacement.”

“That’s the law, not a suggestion. We’re not interested in political games,” the spokesperson continued.

The Montana Senate seat is one Democrats hoped to flip after Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced in March he would not be running for reelection. Early polling showed Bodnar could beat Alme in a one-on-one race; Bankhead has repeatedly said she would not drop out of the race to assist Bodnar’s chances.

Montana’s Democratic Party chair, Shannon O’Brien, resigned Oct. 12 and backed Bodnar’s bid for Senate, accusing Bankhead of not having the resources “or will” to win the Senate race.

Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), The Hill’s election partner, found Alme has an 89 percent chance of winning the Senate race, with Bodnar holding an 11 percent chance as of Wednesday.

According to DDHQ’s aggregate polling, if the race had been held Wednesday, 41.9 percent of Montana voters said they would back Alme, followed by 29.4 percent who would vote for Bodnar and 17.1 percent who said they would support Bankhead.