Can Democrats reclaim ground in western Montana? Meet four candidates angling to find out

DRUMMOND — A few dozen Granite County residents piled into the community library, where Republican and Democratic candidates had driven hours to mingle and stump for a strict three minutes. The subjects voters want to know about here are as local as they are universal: road maintenance, stability for area healthcare providers and whether the new county website is functional, something of a stand-in concern for their accessibility to the government.

Four Democratic candidates for Montana’s western congressional district — Ryan Busse, Russell Cleveland, Sam Forstag and Matt Rains — have to reclaim some ground in places like Drummond if they want a shot in Washington, D.C.

There are a few different ways for a Democrat to pitch themselves at a rural forum. Cleveland dubbed himself a “dirt road Democrat,” while Rains chose the label of “new-age, old-school Democrat.” Busse mentioned he drives a diesel rig and Forstag assured those in the library, which also serves as the public school’s library, that he knows what it’s like to wonder how he’ll cover his bills after his third shift in a single day.

But all four converged on one message: They would better represent Montanans than the Republicans currently running the show.

“If we want to have a different country, then it’s not wrong for all of you to demand representation,” Busse told the crowd.

The western district is still considered “likely Republican” by political forecasters but bears Democrats’ best chance at federal office in Montana. A shot at winning requires a tightrope walk that appeals to Democrats through June 2 and then doesn’t alienate a significant margin of Republicans in the following five months.

“We have a big opportunity here to pull the seat back to blue, and I think there's a real risk to miss that opportunity,” Cleveland said in an interview last month.

The four candidates have appeared together on stages in both rural and urban communities for months now, a stark contrast from the GOP primary, where no event has seen all four Republicans at once. Despite relatively few policy disagreements (save for a few mentioned below), the campaigns have each taken on their own dynamic.

Ryan Busse

Busse lost his 2024 campaign for governor in decisive fashion, but the resulting name recognition has become one of his greatest assets. He points to a blueprint: former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the brash Democrat who has endorsed Busse, didn’t win his first election, either, before he ultimately became a force in Montana.

“I believe in the campaign we're running and the principles we're standing on,” Busse said.

Busse, 56, retooled his campaign approach from one that largely focused on that year’s property tax crisis into a catch-all rebellion against the Trump administration. He also remains critical of the Democratic Party.

“I think that we’re in this boat in large part because of the inaction and unwillingness of Democrats to fight like they mean it,” Busse said in an interview in Kalispell last month. “There’s a perception amongst voters, me included, that Democrats talk like there’s this urgency, like there are all these problems, like there’s this existential crisis, and we do, but nobody acts like it. It’s like, why are you surprised voters don’t believe you?”

Busse is pushing heavily on universal healthcare this election and higher taxes on the wealthy. On those points, he’s managed the biggest fundraising haul of any candidate across either party in the western district and believes that’s been a reflection of his messaging as a “fighter.”

“It's about time we had a fighter,” he said. “Somebody's got to go back there, somebody that will hold Democrats accountable too and that's, you know, who I am. ... We believe we're in a good spot.”

Busse’s also been willing to throw some proverbial elbows at other Democratic candidates this season, namely Forstag, whose supporters have included a handful of wealthy donors.

Russell Cleveland

In these forums across the district that can often feel repetitive, Cleveland has found ways to stand out. He may highlight another candidate’s vague answer or stand at moments when other candidates sit. He’s also the only one who has appeared at an event with the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Aaron Flint and managed to land a few blows.

Cleveland, 41, said Democratic candidates don’t get much consideration because their voters will often mark their ballots for the “lesser of the extreme” Republicans.

“My personal opinion, this isn't the year to do that,” he said in an interview in Missoula. “We've got an opportunity to really set the stage with picking our best Democratic candidate to put against what the Republicans think is their best Republican candidate. And I feel really good about that coming back around in our favor.”

Cleveland returned to Montana in 2021 after a lucrative career in finance and as an executive of a Colorado childcare company. Last year he was the first candidate to launch a campaign, and he declined all PAC money from the start.

He said the commitment to individual contributions was due to a disgust of politics. So why run for office?

“I've built a successful business and sold it in October 2024, and I have this brief period in time where I have an opportunity to actually serve and give myself back in a way that can do it differently, without really anything to lose,” Cleveland said. “I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for my kids, for Montana, for that opportunity to be given to other folks, and not just for whoever that highest bidder is.”

Sam Forstag

Forstag has undeniably roped in the most national attention, including a feature in Esquire magazine this week weaving his smokejumper career into his political launch and an event next week in Missoula with progressive icon and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s been a big splash for a candidate who was widely unknown a year ago but moved deftly through political circles as a lobbyist for liberal causes such as the Americans Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana.

His time lobbying at the Legislature has given him considerable dexterity on policy — so much so that even Forstag, 31, admits he can overwhelm voters.

“Some of the biggest feedback I’ve gotten is that I’m too policy heavy, and that at these debates and forums that that is not the effective way to talk,” he told the Montana State News Bureau in Bozeman last month. “I’m not going to change that because I care about the details, and the details matter so much.”

Indeed, Forstag’s progressive positions come with some nuance. He’s in favor of a public option healthcare system, rather than a single-payer system. As the chosen union candidate, he’s not gone as hard against data centers as other candidates, although he maintains they should be self-sufficiently powered and required to use union labor.

With the unions at his back, Forstag said his campaign is punching back at the attacks aimed his way this primary.

“It was genuinely pretty disappointing,” he said. “If there’s any space left where we should be able to have a debate of ideas, a space left where we could actually be talking about ideas and experience and how you actually get stuff done, I would have hoped it would be a Democratic primary.”

Matt Rains

The 46-year-old veteran lives on a generational family ranch outside the district (completely within the rules to run for this office) near Simms and is one of the few Democrats who enjoys playing up his Montana heritage. This, he says, is what gives him credibility in a district where he’ll need support from rural Republicans in November.

“I am damn proud of Montana; had a Montana driver's license every day of my life,” he said.

But his wide-ranging and perhaps freewheeling life experience certainly informs that moderate position in Democratic politics, Rains said. Consider what beliefs a person forms, he said, after growing up in a Republican ranching family and later photographing a genocide in Myanmar.

“It's kind of hard to come out of that and be like, ‘Corporations and low taxes,’” Rains said with finger quotes and a sarcastic emphasis during an interview in Missoula last month. “Truly, I'm in this to help the people, the people of Montana, and to do what's good.”

Rains is furthest from the other candidates on two items in particular: Israel and dark money in politics.

On the former, Rains took some heat at a Missoula debate for supporting Israel. Rains said it’s been a policy that’s felt personal.

“It's frustrating for me to see hatred among Democrats towards a country that's been our ally, and so I unabashedly am happy to say that I support Israel,” Rains said. “If you've never been to that side of the world and you've just been trained by the internet, you can jump on anything.”

Rains said he’ll fight dark money in politics if elected, but, as a candidate, he’s willing to play by the rules of the game and accept donations that might not be traceable.

“We have to get elected and then start to work and affect that,” he said.

District dynamics

To resonate in Granite County, where the smallest margin any Republican got in 2024 was 63% of the vote, one local Democratic leader says the winning candidate’s message needs to be consistent both here and after they shove off back to to the populated counties, where the lion’s share of those Democratic voters cast a ballot.

“You have to be true to your ideals and go everywhere,” said Sue Petersen, chair of the Granite County Democrats. “You can’t just write off rural counties.”

As Montana has tilted further toward favoring Republicans in recent years, Democratic candidates told the Montana State News Bureau that events like these in Drummond are key to bringing purple politics back into the picture.

But the population centers are where races like these are won, and several of these campaigns have been spending considerable time in Bozeman, a booming hub where no candidate can claim homefield advantage.

Joe Hancock, the chair of the Gallatin County Democrats, said he’s been careful not to lean into the race, instead leaving it to the candidates to make their own luck.

“We’re the second-largest county by population in the state and have the second most Democrats of any county in the state,” Hancock said. “Here, honestly, I feel like it's about actually finding a message that has a bit broader appeal and ... demonstrates their capability to be a leader, as opposed to just someone who says good things.”

The primary election is June 2.