Kurt Alme Wins Montana Senate Seat, Beating Independent Seth Bodnar

Kurt Alme has won the race for the United States Senate in Montana. The Associated Press called the race for the Republican early on Wednesday, November 4, and Decision Desk HQ also listed Alme as the winner. The result is a Republican hold in the seat left open when Senator Steve Daines did not seek a third term, after voters cast their ballots in the general election on Tuesday, November 3.

In the AP snapshot read on Wednesday morning, Alme had 188,921 votes. Seth Bodnar, who ran as an independent, had 152,478 votes, and Democrat Alani Bankhead had 46,939 votes. That count had 574 of 732 precincts reporting, which is 78.42 percent, and an estimated 78.52 percent of the total vote counted. Decision Desk HQ put Alme ahead by 8.99 percent with 79 percent of votes in. A separate tally snapshot at 1:02 a.m. MST on November 4 put Alme at 47.7 percent with 187,961 votes, Bodnar at 38.6 percent with 152,203 votes and Bankhead at 11.9 percent with 46,838 votes, with about 83 percent reporting. All of these counts are unofficial snapshots, and the numbers will change as counting continues.

A seat that opened at the filing deadline

Daines first announced that he would seek re-election. He then withdrew minutes before the filing deadline on March 4, 2026, and endorsed Alme, who filed to run eight minutes before the same deadline that day. President Donald Trump also endorsed Alme, and said he did so based on the strongest recommendation from Daines. Alme went on to win the Republican nomination as the only major Republican candidate in the primary, and his general election win keeps the seat in Republican hands.

Who the winner is

Kurt Gordon Alme was born on October 7, 1966, and is a native of Great Falls. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Alme served as the United States Attorney for the District of Montana from 2017 to 2020, and he returned to that post in March 2025. He resigned on March 4, 2026, in order to run for the Senate. He also served as Montana state budget director under Governor Greg Gianforte.

The field he beat

Bodnar ran as an independent after resigning as president of the University of Montana. He is a former Green Beret, he qualified for the ballot by petition, and he had the backing of former Democratic Senator Jon Tester. Bankhead, the Democratic nominee, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, and she won the Democratic primary. A fourth candidate, Libertarian Kyle Austin, was also on the general election ballot, according to the Montana Secretary of State candidate list.

The AP call landed early on Wednesday. A results tracker still listed Montana as not yet called at 06:30 UTC, and the called result was confirmed by 08:02 UTC, with most precincts reporting. With both decision desks in agreement and a clear margin in the counted vote, Alme will succeed Daines in the Senate. Officials will keep counting the remaining ballots, and the totals behind the call will keep moving as counting continues.