On July 28, Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen stated that if the Democratic Party nominee for U.S.. Senate, Alani Bankhead, withdraws, the law requires the Democratic Party to replace her. However, her belief is contradicted by many court decisions that give political parties freedom of association to decide for themselves whether to run for any particular office. Most on-point is the Seventh Circuit opinion Libertarian Party of Illinois v Scholz, 872 F 3d 518 (2017), which struck down an Illinois law that said new parties must run a full slate of candidates. The reason the Montana Democratic Party may not want to run anyone is that there is a strong independent in the race, Seth Bodnar. Many Montana Democratic Party leaders want him to win, and most observers believe that Bodnar could win if no Democrat is on the ballot.