The party that spent a decade lecturing America about protecting democracy has apparently located a race where democracy is inconvenient. It is in Montana. And the candidate they want off the ballot is theirs.
According to leaked documents reported by Matt Foldi of The Washington Reporter, operatives connected to a dark money group have been running an organized pressure campaign to push Democrat Senate nominee Alani Bankhead out of the Montana race. The goal is to clear the field for independent Seth Bodnar, who enjoys the backing of Chuck Schumer and former Senator Jon Tester. Bankhead, for her part, won the nomination. Voters picked her. That used to count for something.
The document at the center of this is reportedly titled "Montana Senate Seat: How to Help." Truly, the branding department earned its retainer. It reads like a church potluck signup sheet, except instead of bringing a casserole you are asked to leverage your personal relationship with a woman's family until she quits her campaign. The materials reportedly include personal information about relatives and associates, and they urge Democrats with the right connections to make the call.
Nothing says grassroots enthusiasm quite like a spreadsheet of a nominee's loved ones.
The motive is not exactly buried. The documents reportedly show Democrats have concluded that if Bankhead stays on the ballot, Republican nominee Kurt Alm cruises to victory. So the plan is not to persuade Montana voters that the Democrat is worth electing. The plan is to remove the Democrat. When your own internal polling suggests the winning move is to delete your candidate, that is less a campaign strategy than a confession.
Then there is the part that deserves its own plaque. The documents reportedly advise allies to downplay a past sexual discrimination lawsuit filed against Bodnar during his tenure as president of the University of Montana. Downplay it. In writing. From the movement that built an entire political identity around believing women, we now have a memo with a section on which allegations to keep quiet, distributed to volunteers, in an election year. Somewhere a communications director is very proud.
The deadline to withdraw from the race is today, August 10. Breitbart reports Bodnar has been weighing his own exit if Bankhead refuses to fold. So we may be watching the rarest event in American politics, a game of chicken where both drivers are Democrats and the car belongs to Chuck Schumer.
Montana Republicans should send a thank you note. Not for the seat, though that appears to be trending nicely. For the demonstration. Every voter who has been told that the party of the people cannot possibly be run from a boardroom in Washington now has the memo, the title, and the volunteer instructions.
They wanted a national conversation about protecting elections. They just did not expect to be the exhibit.
- Article Source:
The Post Millennial
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