Financial backer of Democratic Senate nominee backs out of Montana

A political action committee that formed this spring and spent millions on boosting Democrat Alani Bankhead’s profile in the primary election for U.S. Senate is pulling out of the state, saying the seat is unwinnable by a Democratic candidate.

“Progressive Vet PAC formed in early 2026 to combat MAGA Republicans trying to rig the Montana Democratic primary for U.S. Senate,” the group said in a press release. “Unfortunately, recent polling and fundraising reports make it clear that a Democrat does not have a viable path to winning the Montana Senate seat.”

A spokesperson for Bankhead did not respond to questions about the announcement or the financial status of her campaign.

Progressive Vet PAC spent more than $2.5 million on mailers, text messages and digital ads supporting Bankhead and bashing Democratic candidate Reilly Neill ahead of the June election, when Bankhead prevailed by nearly 12,000 votes.

The PAC’s treasurer is a former Democratic state legislator Moffie Funk, who’s been an ally of former Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, the last Democrat elected to a statewide office, who has supported the independent campaign of Seth Bodnar for the U.S. Senate race.

The outside spending on Bankhead’s campaign vastly dwarfed the fundraising of all Democratic candidates combined, with Bankhead reporting just under $24,000 raised through May 13, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Comparatively, Bodnar leads all candidates with $2.1 million raised, followed by Republican Kurt Alme with $1.2 million.

FEC filings show Progressive Vet PAC hasn’t spent any money in Montana since the June 2 primary, and announced it was pulling its support on June 30 in order to “turn our attention to supporting and promoting a progressive veteran running to unseat a weak MAGA U.S. Senator,” according to the press release.

The PAC will support Noah Taylor, one of 11 Democrats seeking the nomination in the Kansas U.S. Senate race.

During the primary, Bankhead condemned dark money spending in the primary race, focusing on the political action committees supporting Alme that sought to elevate Neill as a better Democratic candidate.

Asked by the Daily Montanan if the campaign also opposed the Progressive Vet PAC spending on her behalf, a Bankhead spokesperson at the time said that while the PAC was reflective of the campaign’s values, “We believe that Montanans deserve to get the campaign messages directly from the candidate, not from corporate PACs that often have more manipulative motivations.”