Alani Bankhead Town Hall at Kenyon House, Bozeman (Sept. 23, 2026) | Full Q&A

An hour of unscripted questions from Bozeman voters: holding the executive branch accountable, dark money in this race, universal health care, Indian Country, I-194 and AI data centers. Alani Bankhead takes every question, including the hard ones about whether she should step aside. Original air date: September 23, 2026 A note on this recording: we removed one audience exchange (about 1 minute) because Alani's answer was inaccurate, and we don't want this video repeating something that isn't true. We're not hiding it. Here's what was asked, what she said, and what actually happened. A voter asked whether Alani had responded to Planned Parenthood's endorsement questionnaire. She said yes, the campaign had responded, because the campaign fills out every questionnaire it receives. That was wrong, and here's why. Endorsement questionnaires go to her staff, not to her directly, and the campaign answers every one it gets, so she assumed this one had been answered too. But there was no questionnaire to answer. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the national group that endorsed Seth Bodnar, never sent this campaign one. Its only contact was a few phone calls in early August about getting Alani out of the race. Planned Parenthood Montana is a separate organization. We've apologized for the mix-up publicly. Had the Action Fund ever sent her a questionnaire, she would have answered it. The full correction is at https://alaniformt.com/truth Sources shown on screen 3:46 TRICARE coverage: Congressional Research Service; MOAA 5:14 84% of Montanans support banning public-land sales: University of Montana Crown of the Continent & Greater Yellowstone Initiative poll, April 2026 25:15 Tester outraised Sheehy, $91.7M to $28.8M: OpenSecrets (FEC data) https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2024&id=MTS1 27:05 Progressive Vet PAC declared a Democrat "does not have a viable path": Montana Free Press, July 6, 2026 https://montanafreepress.org/2026/07/06/mystery-pac-that-boosted-bankhead-exits-senate-race-leaving-a-financial-void/ 29:07 Jon Tester on Anthropic's National Security & Public Sector Advisory Council: ExecutiveBiz, Aug. 28, 2025 https://www.executivebiz.com/articles/anthropic-national-security-public-sector-advisory-council-patrick-shanahan 34:55 Tester's text calling the party "poison": Montana Public Radio, Jan. 16, 2026 https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2026-01-16/tester-slams-democrats-voices-support-for-potential-independent-in-senate-race 49:13 Medical debt: KFF 50:52 Health-care waste: JAMA (Shrank et al.), 2019 54:50 Missing Indigenous persons: Montana DOJ Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force, 2024 57:16 Dark money in 2024: Brennan Center, 2025 58:32 Montana Democrats' data-center moratorium plank: Montana Free Press, June 25, 2026 https://montanafreepress.org/2026/06/25/data-centers-in-the-democratic-hot-seat/ 1:00:03 Electricity prices: Montana Environmental Information Center Chapters 0:00 Meet Alani: accountability, affordability, protecting the vulnerable 10:50 Where to find every debate and all 70+ positions 12:11 How to hold the executive branch accountable 15:51 The Senate committees she'd fight for 18:36 From ROTC to lieutenant colonel 20:48 "Should you step aside?" Polls and money 26:09 The PAC money behind the primary 29:34 Winning rural Montana without glossy mailers 33:20 Why Washington wanted an independent in Montana 37:33 What the polls do and don't measure 38:15 The Gallatin County Democrats dinner 39:38 A longtime Democrat on the party's values 46:36 Universal health care: how to move the needle 51:33 Indian Country and tribal sovereignty 56:34 Could I-194 affect community groups? 58:14 Stopping AI data centers More: https://alaniformt.com/positions Upcoming debates: https://alaniformt.com/debates Volunteer: https://alaniformt.com/get-involved Donate: https://alaniformt.com/donate #Montana #MTSen #AlaniBankhead #Bozeman Paid for by Friends of Alani Bankhead. The use of military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense.