Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic Party's favorite TV guest and a man who has been "thinking about 2028" since roughly 2019, has made his big move in the Montana Senate race. He endorsed the independent. Not the Democrat. The independent.
That's right. With less than two weeks to go, Mayor Pete looked at his own party's nominee, Air Force veteran Alani Bankhead, who actually won the Democratic primary back in June, and said, "Hmm, what if somebody else?"
Instead, Buttigieg threw his support behind Seth Bodnar, a former Green Beret and former president of the University of Montana. ABC News got the statement first, and it was a beauty. "The best leaders I've served with, in uniform and in government, care more about getting the job done than about who gets the credit, and Seth is one of them," Buttigieg wrote. "Seth and I don't agree on everything."
Pete, buddy, you don't agree with your own party's nominee on anything, apparently, because you didn't even mention her. According to ABC, his statement never once said Bankhead's name. That's not an endorsement, that's ghosting. Bankhead got left on read by the national party like a Tinder match who mentioned she's "really into crypto."
And this is not a one-off. Democrats are backing independents for Senate in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Idaho. Think about how bad your brand has to be when your strategy in four states is "please, for the love of God, don't put a D next to it." That's not a political party anymore. That's a witness protection program. Somewhere in a DNC basement, there's a guy whose whole job is peeling donkey stickers off yard signs.
The Washington Examiner reports that Jon Tester's old political team is helping staff Bodnar's campaign. So the plan in Montana is to take Democrat staffers, Democrat donors, Democrat surrogates, and a Democrat endorsement, wrap them all in a Carhartt jacket, and call it "independent." It's like a guy showing up to a party in a fake mustache and saying, "Hi, I'm not Steve."
Meanwhile, Bankhead says people inside the party tried to get her to drop out, a claim the party denies. And she refused. Respect where it's due: the woman is the only Democrat in Montana who seems to actually want to be a Democrat. She's the last soldier in the jungle still fighting for a party that already went home.
The prize here is an open seat held by Republican Sen. Steve Daines, with former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme carrying the GOP flag. And the beautiful part is that the more Democrats try to outsmart the voters with this independent shell game, the more they risk splitting their own vote right down the middle. Big brain strategy. Truly the party of science.
Our sources inside the Buttigieg book tour say he plans to keep endorsing outside his own party all the way to 2028. Next week he's expected to back an independent for student council president at a high school in Boise, and a write-in candidate for Pope. "I don't agree with him on everything," Buttigieg will reportedly say of the Pope, "but he cares more about getting the job done than who gets the credit."
Montana votes November 3. Bring your own label.
This is satire from The Demorat. Real facts are drawn from news reports. Invented quotes, the Pope endorsement, and the DNC sticker guy are parody and not real.
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