Russell Cleveland
Russell Cleveland (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Montana's 1st Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on June 2, 2026.[source]
Cleveland completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Russell Cleveland served in the U.S. Navy from 2009 to 2013. He earned a high school diploma from Stevensville High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2012, and a graduate degree from Seattle University in 2015. His career experience includes working as an executive.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1
Ryan Busse, Russell Cleveland, Samuel Forstag, and Matt Rains are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 2, 2026.
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1
Incumbent Ryan K. Zinke is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 2, 2026.
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 | Ryan K. Zinke | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Cleveland received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Cleveland's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Russell Cleveland completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cleveland's responses.
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I was raised on a farm in Stevensville, Montana. I went on to play football under Bob Green at Montana Tech and studied electrical engineering, which led me to join the Navy in 2009 as an Aviation Electrician. Four years later I married my wife Dr. Kate Cleveland, and together we founded Rocky Mountain Kids, a startup child care company that grew to serve thousands of children across dozens of locations. During the pandemic and with schools shut down, we quickly opened remote learning centers to keep children engaged and learning.
Following the loss of our daughter Madison, we knew we needed to come home. Returning in 2021, we found that this great state had changed--and in many ways for the worse. Regular working-class Montanans who sculpted this state into excellence had been neglected by those meant to serve them and priced out of the only place they called home.
Today, my family and I live on a homestead and cattle ranch in Saint Regis. My Wife and I coach at Saint Regis High School (Go Tigers!), where our children today go to learn.- Healthcare is too expensive. I will fight to improve healthcare with Medicare for All, seeking to lower drug prices, strengthen rural clinics, and adequately fund research programs to once again lead the world in finding cures and preventing disease.
- DC corruption steals Montanan's money and weakens our institutions. I do not take corporate PAC money. I would support ending Citizens United, banning dark money in politics, and standing up to Big Tech, billionaires, and corrupt politicians who take our data and steal from our pockets. I believe a full-time job's earnings must provide enough to cover a standard cost of living.
- America has the resources and must invest in our own communities. DC politicians comfortably send billions abroad for foreign wars while defunding research, the VA, and cutting health care subsidies. I support universal childcare, including Universal Pre-K, and increasing pay for teachers to build resiliency in our education system. I would restore funding to the VA, demonstrating that America's strength comes from the durability of her people.
Turn Left
Josh Hutcherson
Bryan Andrews
Sergeant Rhodes
Susan Weber
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Montana District 1 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 5, 2026
