Seth Bodnar

Seth Bodnar is an independent candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in Montana. A West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar and Army Green Beret, he became a General Electric executive and then served as president of the University of Montana for eight years before resigning to run. He filed on March 4, 2026, as an independent who says he will not caucus with either party.[1][2][3][4]

Bodnar was raised in Franklin, Pennsylvania, and says he was raised by two public school teachers and joined the military at 18.[2][6] He graduated first in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a bachelor's degree in economics and studied at Hertford College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar and Truman Scholar, earning two master's degrees.[4][6] In the Army he served as an infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division, deployed to Iraq, and served as a Green Beret in the 1st Special Forces Group, commanding a detachment; he later taught economics at West Point.[2][4][6] He remained a lieutenant colonel in the Montana Army National Guard as of 2022.[6]

Bodnar joined General Electric in 2011 and became a senior executive in its transportation division, including as chief digital officer.[6][5] He became the 19th president of the University of Montana in January 2018 and led it for eight years.[4][2][5][6] According to his campaign, the university turned around enrollment, stabilized its finances, achieved record-high graduation rates and doubled its research output during his tenure.[2] The university settled a sex-discrimination lawsuit for $350,000 in 2024 that named him, according to Wikipedia.[6] He resigned the presidency in January 2026, shortly before announcing his Senate run on March 4, 2026.[3][6]

Bodnar's campaign says his wife, a pediatrician, is a fifth-generation Montanan and that they are raising three children; Wikipedia lists the family's residence as Missoula.[2][6] He says he is running as an independent because he swore an oath to the Constitution rather than to a party, and has argued that both major parties have failed Montana; Wikipedia reports he was last registered with a party in 2012, as a Democrat.[5][4][6]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.