# Alani Bankhead **Alani Bankhead** is the 2026 Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Montana. A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel with 21 years of service — human-intelligence operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq, a unit command in Kuwait, counterintelligence and child-predator investigations — she works as a leadership coach in Helena and had never held office. She won the June 2, 2026 primary with 43.6% over Reilly Neill (33.0%) after Progressive Vet PAC spent $592,000 on her behalf and a Sheehy-aligned Republican PAC ran ads against Neill. Democrats and independent-aligned donors then pressed her to withdraw so [[Seth Bodnar]] could consolidate the non-Republican vote against [[Kurt Alme]]; at the August 10 withdrawal deadline she stayed in ("not only no, but hell no"). She had raised $58,829 through June 30. See [[MT-Sen-2026]].