A progressive political action committee that spent nearly $3 million boosting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alani Bankhead in Montana’s primary has abandoned her general election campaign, announcing Tuesday it no longer sees a realistic path for Democrats to win the seat in November.
Progressive Vet PAC said it is redirecting its financial support to Noah Taylor, a Democratic Senate candidate in Kansas, after concluding that the Montana race had become unwinnable. The announcement marks a significant blow to Bankhead, who emerged from the June 2 Democratic primary with almost no financial foundation of her own.
Stark Fundraising Gap
Bankhead raised just $24,000 herself before the primary — a figure that underscores how heavily her campaign depended on outside progressive money. The nearly $3 million injected by Progressive Vet PAC dwarfed her personal fundraising by more than a hundredfold, raising questions about whether her candidacy was ever built on a sustainable financial base.
The PAC’s treasurer is Moffie Funk, a former Democratic state lawmaker with past ties to former U.S. Senator Jon Tester. Tester lost his own reelection bid in 2024, further thinning the bench of institutional Democratic support in the state.
Polling Puts Bankhead Well Behind
A Grayhouse poll of 500 likely Montana voters, conducted June 23–24, showed Republican candidate Kurt Alme leading Bankhead 41 percent to 25 percent. That 16-point deficit — combined with Bankhead’s thin fundraising — appears to have been the deciding factor in the PAC’s withdrawal.
The PAC framed its decision in blunt terms, stating that “recent polling and fundraising reports make it clear that a Democrat does not have a viable path to winning the Montana Senate seat.” Rather than continue spending in a state it now views as out of reach, the group said it would move its resources to Kansas, where it sees better odds.
Bankhead did not respond to requests for comment.
What It Means for the Montana Senate Race
Alme, the Republican nominee, now holds a commanding early lead with the structural advantages of party, money, and polling on his side. Montana has trended sharply Republican in federal races in recent cycles, and without significant outside investment, Bankhead faces an uphill battle simply to remain competitive through November.
The Progressive Vet PAC’s departure also raises a broader question about the durability of pop-up outside spending in low-fundraising candidacies. When a candidate raises $24,000 on her own and relies almost entirely on a single outside group, the campaign effectively dissolves the moment that group walks away.
Democrats hoping to compete for Montana’s open Senate seat — created when Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy moved into a different race — have been searching for a credible path forward in a state where Tester’s defeat in 2024 signaled the limits of even a well-funded incumbency advantage. A general-election candidate polling at 25 percent in late June, with negligible self-funding, offers little reason for national donors to engage.
The PAC’s pivot to Kansas reflects a broader strategic calculus by progressive outside groups: concentrate resources in competitive races rather than symbolic contests. For Montana Democrats, it is a signal that national allies are not prepared to invest in what they now view as a long shot.
What’s Next
The general election is set for November 3, 2026. Absent a dramatic shift in fundraising or polling, Bankhead will need to rebuild her campaign infrastructure largely from scratch, without the outside support that carried her through the primary. Alme, meanwhile, can be expected to consolidate Republican backing and widen his financial advantage in the months ahead.
The Montana Senate race had attracted national attention as a potential pickup opportunity, but the exit of its biggest financial backer suggests the outside progressive community has effectively written off the contest for now.
