Earlier this month, Alani Bankhead basically came out of nowhere to win the Democratic nomination in Montana’s U.S. Senate race.

Bankhead is a self-described military brat who lived all over the country before settling down in Montana. She says Montana is the first place she chose to live.

Now, she is in a four-way race to replace outgoing Sen. Steve Daines. She will run against Republican nominee Kurt Alme, Libertarian candidate Kyle Austin and independent Seth Bodnar in the November election.

Bankhead got in the race because she feels like it is her duty to fight for the people of Montana. That comes after serving more than 21 years in the Air Force, where she wore many hats. That includes hunting terrorists with special operations, chasing spies internationally, and serving as a senior bodyguard for one of the top Pentagon leaders.

Since Bankhead is such an unknown, rumors spread that she was running a campaign to help Bodner, who has support from former Democratic Montana senators. Some speculated openly that she was going to drop out of the race when her campaign announced a major event Monday at University of Montana Oval.

Instead, Bankhead came out swinging at Bodnar, pointing out his many allegations of sexual discrimination as the president of the University of Montana.

To paraphrase Dr. Evil, she had me at hello.

That night, I sent her a Facebook message to share my story of Bodnar. I told her how he and his staff refused to protect my daughter, her roommates and other female students at the University of Montana from a female sexual predator and stalker. He could not be bothered to even answer a phone call or email. Jon Krakauer might have to write a sequel.

That conversation led to Bankhead agreeing to be a guest on the ButteCast, and we met up for a great conversation over Zoom on Thursday morning.

Listen in as Bankhead shares some of her experiences from the military and why she chose to live in Montana. Listen as she talks about the sense of duty that got her in this race.

Listen in to hear that she has a history of standing up to bullies and defending people who cannot defend themselves.

Listen in to hear a great American underdog story.

This episode is also available on YouTube.