HELENA — There’s a growing field of Democratic candidates challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke in the race for Montana’s western U.S. House seat.
On Thursday morning, Ryan Busse – an author, activist and former firearms executive from Kalispell – announced a congressional campaign. It comes just over a year after Busse was the Democratic nominee for Montana governor in the 2024 elections.
“I think it's urgent that we take back this state,” Busse told MTN. “People can't afford to live here. There's a lot of justifiable worry about how prices have been driven up, how the wealthy are taking over the state.”
Busse, 55, criticizes Zinke for his actions on issues like health care, tariffs and federal cuts, and he says voters in this district need someone to fight for greater affordability.
“Montanans finally realize it's not okay to have a one party rule, and it's not okay to have somebody like Zinke who just says yes to every destructive policy,” he said.
Busse argues the recognition he’s built through his gubernatorial campaign puts him in the best position for a Democratic candidate, and he says this year will be a different political environment.
“People were angry and tired,” he said. “But this is not 2024 anymore. It's 2026 and the party in power is doing bad things to the people of this state, and Montana Democrats know that. I think the most important thing that they realize is that they need to nominate somebody who can beat Zinke, and that's why I'm doing this.”
Busse’s announcement comes just days after another Democrat entered the western district race: Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader from Missoula. He says he wanted to bring a working-class perspective to the race.
“Like most people in the state, most of the folks I know, I am still struggling just to afford a roof over my head and my little 900-square-foot home right here in town, and to afford basic health insurance that God hopes will actually give me health care when I need it," he told MTN.
Forstag, 31, who recently stepped away from a job as a U.S. Forest Service smokejumper, says one of his biggest concerns has been federal job cuts, including at USFS.
“These are people making less than $20 an hour swinging tools in the woods,” he said. “And it's the same story that it always is: It's working people getting screwed so that the richest people in this country can get a little bit richer.”
Last April, Forstag was a speaker at former presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' rally in Missoula. Sanders endorsed his campaign on Monday.
“I am excited and grateful to stand with anybody who's actually willing to stand up for working people,” said Forstag. “Ryan Zinke, he has not been willing to do that.”
Busse and Forstag join two other candidates already running for the Democratic nomination: Russ Cleveland, a former child-care business owner from St. Regis, and Matt Rains, a rancher from Simms.
Montana’s 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. National political analysts like the Cook Political Report have identified it as a “Likely Republican” seat in the 2026 elections.
Zinke has been elected four times to represent Montana in the House: the entire state in 2014 and 2016 and the western district in 2022 and 2024.
MTN reached out to Zinke's campaign for comment on the field of Democratic candidates challenging him. Heather Swift, his campaign manager, pointed to posts she made on the social media platform X, calling Busse “a gun control, climate alarmist, liberal” and saying Forstag “represents [New York City mayor Zohran] Mamdani not Montana.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include additional quotes from Ryan Busse and Sam Forstag and comment from Ryan Zinke's campaign.
