Independents in the Two-Party System | Episode 291

[upbeat country music] Hey folks, Randy Newberg here.

Welcome to Leupold's Hunt Talk Radio.

As I went walking.

I saw a sign there.

And on the sign, it said, "No trespassing." But on the other side, it didn't say nothing.

Well, that sign was made for you and me.

Hey folks, Randy Newberg here with another episode of Leupold's Hunt Talk Radio.

It is 2026, which means it's the off-season or off-year election season.

And, you know, in the past, you guys have seen that I've had statewide candidates for Montana from the left and the right, and sometimes some cancel, some don't wanna do it, whatever.

Uh, this year in Montana, we have an interesting thing where we have a very legitimate candidate for our US Senate seat competing against a Republican and a Democrat, and we have, not in my district, but the district in Eastern Montana, we have an independent candidate there running for, against Republicans and Democrats.

So, uh, you have heard me say many times that I am the party of hunting, fishing, and public land.

You know my frustration of political process because I go back to DC way too much, and it is broken.

I- you've heard time and time again about this broken system.

So a few months ago, I learned about a guy, and he's gonna be our guest today, Seth Bodnar, who is the independent candidate for US Senate, and I've been doing a lot of research on him.

Uh, went to an event that he had, and then got invited to a, a fundraiser, and I didn't feel that I could go there without making a donation, so I made my second political donation of my lifetime, uh, just 'cause I wanted to stand in the back and listen and see how he talked when he was talking to people he knew were potential donors, because that's a different discussion usually than what you get when you're just at a public meeting.

And so, uh, then I m- I met with him to talk about a lot of our issues, and I thought, "You know what? I should have him on the podcast and let him tell the, rather than me tell what he's thinking, he can tell y'all what he's thinking." And, uh, I'm gonna try to seek out as many independent candidates as I can.

I, I, I am just frustrated that a country with such amazing potential that the United States has been hijacked by the two-party system, and maybe I'm wrong in that, but I think a lot of you are feeling the same way because we get a lot of the same comments from a lot of you of, "I don't think I have a party anymore," or, "The system's broken," or, you know, uh, all kinds of...

We, we've heard all the comments, right? So I asked him, I said, "Do you want to come on this podcast and tell this audience what you're thinking?" And yeah, we're gonna focus mostly on public lands, conservation, hunting.

We're not gonna get into all the issues of, you know, whatever it is, immigration and abortion and the other things that seem to make up a lot of the public argument.

Uh, and I also wanna ma- hear his case about why he thinks an independent candidate can work, why they have a chance to actually get elected, and what their ability would be to actually govern, uh, or be a change-maker if you were one of a hundred US senators.

So we'll see how it goes.

Uh, appreciate y'all listening.

I hope that you'll listen to it and think about this fall.

And, uh, my only call to action to anybody is vote.

And I don't care if you vote left, right, independent, but vote, and vote your principles.

Don't vote, please don't vote just because, "Well, this is my peer pressure of this," or, "My group, social group, we do this or do that." You know, voting is, is really, really important.

And this year, hey, maybe there's an option that, well, there is an option there, and I'm hoping that it becomes a viable option that gives us a chance to be independent in how we think and how we vote.

So anyhow, appreciate y'all being here, and, uh, we'll see where this discussion goes.

Seth Bodnar, uh, candidate for US Senate from Montana, running as an independent.

In about two seconds, we're gonna flip it over and he's gonna come in here and sit in that chair right there.

[upbeat country music] Hey folks, Randy Newberg here.

Welcome to Leupold's Hunt Talk Radio.

As I went walking.

I saw a sign there.

And on the sign, it said, "No trespassing." But on the other side, it didn't say nothing.

Well, that sign was made for you and me.

Hey folks, Randy Newberg here with another episode of Leupold's Hunt Talk Radio.

It is 2026, which means it's the off-season or off-year election season.

And, you know, in the past, you guys have seen that I've had statewide candidates for Montana from the left and the right, and sometimes some cancel, some don't wanna do it, whatever.

Uh, this year in Montana, we have an interesting thing where we have a very legitimate candidate for our US Senate seat competing against a Republican and a Democrat, and we have, not in my district, but the district in Eastern Montana, we have an independent candidate there running for, against Republicans and Democrats.

So, uh, you have heard me say many times that I am the party of hunting, fishing, and public land.

You know my frustration of political process because I go back to DC way too much, and it is broken.

I- you've heard time and time again about this broken system.

So a few months ago, I learned about a guy, and he's gonna be our guest today, Seth Bodnar, who is the independent candidate for US Senate, and I've been doing a lot of research on him.

Uh, went to an event that he had, and then got invited to a, a fundraiser, and I didn't feel that I could go there without making a donation, so I made my second political donation of my lifetime, uh, just 'cause I wanted to stand in the back and listen and see how he talked when he was talking to people he knew were potential donors, because that's a different discussion usually than what you get when you're just at a public meeting.

And so, uh, then I m- I met with him to talk about a lot of our issues, and I thought, "You know what? I should have him on the podcast and let him tell the, rather than me tell what he's thinking, he can tell y'all what he's thinking." And, uh, I'm gonna try to seek out as many independent candidates as I can.

I, I, I am just frustrated that a country with such amazing potential that the United States has been hijacked by the two-party system, and maybe I'm wrong in that, but I think a lot of you are feeling the same way because we get a lot of the same comments from a lot of you of, "I don't think I have a party anymore," or, "The system's broken," or, you know, uh, all kinds of...

We, we've heard all the comments, right? So I asked him, I said, "Do you want to come on this podcast and tell this audience what you're thinking?" And yeah, we're gonna focus mostly on public lands, conservation, hunting.

We're not gonna get into all the issues of, you know, whatever it is, immigration and abortion and the other things that seem to make up a lot of the public argument.

Uh, and I also wanna ma- hear his case about why he thinks an independent candidate can work, why they have a chance to actually get elected, and what their ability would be to actually govern, uh, or be a change-maker if you were one of a hundred US senators.

So we'll see how it goes.

Uh, appreciate y'all listening.

I hope that you'll listen to it and think about this fall.

And, uh, my only call to action to anybody is vote.

And I don't care if you vote left, right, independent, but vote, and vote your principles.

Don't vote, please don't vote just because, "Well, this is my peer pressure of this," or, "My group, social group, we do this or do that." You know, voting is, is really, really important.

And this year, hey, maybe there's an option that, well, there is an option there, and I'm hoping that it becomes a viable option that gives us a chance to be independent in how we think and how we vote.

So anyhow, appreciate y'all being here, and, uh, we'll see where this discussion goes.

Seth Bodnar, uh, candidate for US Senate from Montana, running as an independent.

In about two seconds, we're gonna flip it over and he's gonna come in here and sit in that chair right there.