Kurt Alme, Montana’s former U.S. attorney, beat independent Seth Bodnar and Democrat Alani Bankhead to take the open seat of retiring Sen. Steve Daines, in a race the Associated Press called for him.
Kurt Alme is Montana’s new senator. He is a lawyer from Billings who has spent much of his career as a prosecutor.
Alme was born in Great Falls and grew up in Montana. He studied business at the University of Colorado and earned his law degree from Harvard. He clerked for a federal judge in Montana, worked as a federal prosecutor, and led the state revenue department. President Donald Trump named him U.S. attorney for Montana, the state’s top federal prosecutor, and he held that job from 2017 to 2020 and again from 2025 until he resigned to run for the Senate.
His path to the seat was sudden. Sen. Steve Daines had planned to seek a third term, but in March, minutes before the filing deadline, Daines withdrew and backed Alme, who filed the same day. Alme also had Trump’s endorsement.
In November, Alme faced a split field: Seth Bodnar, a former University of Montana president running as an independent, and Democratic nominee Alani Bankhead. Alme won with about 48 percent of the vote, ahead of Bodnar’s 39 percent and Bankhead’s 12 percent.
His win matters because it keeps Montana’s seat in Republican hands, even as Democrats won control of the Senate.
What to watch: how a career prosecutor handles his first elected office, and his first votes in a closely divided Senate.
Fast facts
- Age: 60
- Party: Republican
- Office: U.S. Senator
- State: Montana
- Previous job: U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana
- Called by AP: 2:54 a.m., Nov. 4, 2026
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
