Who paid for the super PAC ads that helped Alani Bankhead win Montana's Democratic Senate primary?

Heather Tom Murphy reports on This American Life that the ads came from Progressive Vet PAC, a group Bankhead had never heard of. FEC filings showed it raised $2.8 million and seemed to exist only to support her. Most donors cannot be seen. A few hundred thousand dollars were tied to billionaire Jason Carroll, who had also given to independent Seth Bodnar. Carroll did not respond to Murphy.

• Bankhead had raised less than $15,000 on her own before the ads started in May.
• The PAC's spending was about ten times what the front-runner, former state lawmaker Riley Neal, had behind her.
• Bankhead publicly said the ads were not hers because she campaigns against dark money.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on This American Life (2026-11-01). Read the whole episode summary →

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