r/MontanaPolitics • u/SomeSchmidt • May 01 '26
Federal Has Bodnar taken a stance on anything?
Someone please tell me why this guy is getting so much attention. His website is full of the most generic and meaningless statements. He doesn't take a stance on a single issue or propose a single solution. The only reason people seem to be interested in him is because he doesn't have the "Democrat" or "Republican" label. However, he's definitely being marketed as an alternative for Dems which makes him seem more like a spoiler ticket.
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u/Rocky_Missoula May 01 '26
If you still think the rows of prizes at the midway games at the Western Mt. Fair are there to actually be given away to winners, the Seth Bodnar candidacy is for you.
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u/fatalexe May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
Have you read his website? Seems like the main platform is structural reform of politics. I couldn’t agree more that Citizens United ruling and the subsequent American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock has completely broken the ability for politicians to actually represent citizens rather than corporate interests.
The hallmark of modern politics on both sides is to research wedge issues that will trigger voter’s outrage and use that as camouflage to further corporate capture of our regulations and tax structure that used to ensure capitalism bent towards for the benefit of all people and their access to education and access to fair markets rather than purely enriching those with existing capital. This used to be the single thing both parties understood historically but ever since citizens united this has become a broken country with a constitution and body politic that no longer acts in a way as most likely to effect our Safety and Happiness
This is really the only meaningful reform we can logically peruse. Nothing else will be possible politically until we break corporate control of regulation and government services.
https://www.sethformontana.com/issues/reform-our-broken-politics
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u/SomeSchmidt 29d ago
I did not see that but it's exactly what I was looking for and I like what I see. Surprised you're the first person to point out that he does have pages addressing specific issues. I was looking for an "Issues" page on the main menu but only found "About" and "Values", both of which just felt very generic.
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u/No_Fault_4071 May 01 '26
I think his biggest claim is that he’s independent? Seriously.
Being independent allows him to say to voters- hey! I’m just like you. I think both parties suck, so I’m gonna walk the “middle”. That seems to appeal to more and more people who are increasingly frustrated and fed up with both parties and I get that. Far and wide, regardless of political affiliation, I think most voters feel frustrated by the current political climate.
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u/SomeSchmidt May 01 '26
Yeah, someone telling tens of thousands of people "I'm just like you" without saying who they are just sounds like every other empty political promise.
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u/Dull_Ad5440 May 01 '26
You seem to have a major boner against Bodnar. Most of us simply want to end Republican rule in the Congress.
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u/SomeSchmidt May 01 '26
Yeah, I'm definitely not hiding my frustration. And it's because I too want to end Republican rule. There's a lot of ways this Bodner bid could go wrong and, as noted above, I don't see anything of substance in his campaign.
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u/Tacolab May 02 '26
A centrist candidate is bad compared to liberal candidates in a state that was purple and is now red? I think folks should travel around the state, out of the big blue dots to understand better.
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u/aftertheradar May 03 '26
flipping off the progressives to unsuccessfully move further right to unsuccessfully court centrists is such a winning strategy from democrats country wide, surely it will work this time here too!
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u/phdoofus May 01 '26
You need to embrace the suck and realize there are no good candidates for anything right now. Bodner is free to run. You can't hate on him for running and you can't hate on him for being an independent. I haven't even sat down and gave enough of a shit to figure out how I want to cast my vote but I know that. I might reasonably ask 'how young are you anyway?' because politicians have learned never to reveal too much too soon because that can be used against you. It's been that way for a long time. I haven't done it but I might suggest doing that for all the other candidates and compare and contrast and then get back to us. This seems a lot more like you want Bodner to drop out just because you don't want him 'splitting the vote' than anything. Fair enough but then just say that.
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u/SomeSchmidt May 01 '26
Seth Bodnar, Embrace The Suck
Yeah, I know that's not what you're saying but it was too good to pass up. I've been voting for decades and I've seen a lot of GOP tactics to win elections they shouldn't, a lot of bad campaigns, and a lot of bad candidates. Bodnar's campaign so far has the hallmarks of two of these so yeah, I'm not stoked and was kind of hoping someone would chime in to make me feel better about his campaign. Still waiting.
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u/Rocky_Missoula May 02 '26
Don’t mind embracing the suck, but prefer not to do it for a repeat trip to Chosin Reservoir and back - only with even less effective planning.
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u/Dr_John_SF_44 10d ago
If you're not sure where he stands and really want to know, he's doing a ton of meet and greets all around Montana. He's really quite good at responding to difficult questions, so you should go and ask him your questions directly. That way you'll at least have a direct sense of who he is and what he stands for. If you don't want to ask your questions in front of the group, if he doesn't have another event to rush off to, he'll hang around and respond to you individually.
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u/Dr_John_SF_44 10d ago
Also, full disclosure, I'm Seth's "step" father-in-law. He's married to my step-daughter, Dr. Chelsea Bodnar. I've published an Op-Ed about him in Montana's Lee Newspapers (Missoulian, Gazette, etc.). And so if you're interested in knowing more about him, including the perspective of a "relative," university professor, and clinical psychologist, you can read the Op-Ed. If you can't get access through the paywalls, I posted the Op-Ed on my blog at: https://johnsommersflanagan.com/2026/05/14/who-is-seth-bodnar/
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u/Tacolab May 02 '26
He should probably come out with a ton of really liberal stances to placate the social media echo chamber and alienate those on the teetering point of swinging away from the GOP.
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u/SomeSchmidt May 02 '26
I mean, the GOP is gonna label him a liberal no matter what he does or says and it'll stick if he doesn't take any stances of his own.
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u/Tacolab May 02 '26
And liberals are going to say he isn't liberal enough. So maybe, just maybe he he is the right fit for the state. I just don't understand why incremental movement seems to be so scary.
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u/nthlmkmnrg May 02 '26
They won't label him a liberal. He is a liberal. They will label him a socialist.
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u/nthlmkmnrg May 02 '26
You think GOPers will vote for a Missoula liberal just because he has an (I)?
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u/Tacolab May 02 '26
But I thought folks on here said he wasn't liberal enough. Dude was SOF, how liberal can he be?
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u/nthlmkmnrg May 03 '26
Not sure you get that the word "liberal" means different things to different people. To a Montana republican, anyone who lived in Missoula and doesn't constantly complain about how liberal it is, is a socialist. To a leftist, anyone who supports laissez faire capitalism is a liberal (this is correct btw). To a progressive democrat, being "liberal" is about social values with little to no connection to economics.
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