HELENA — This year, Montana voters will be electing three out of four members of the state’s congressional delegation, including both of its representatives in the U.S. House. Montana hasn’t sent a Democrat to the House since 1994, and Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing will be looking to continue that trend this year.
(Watch the video to hear from Montana's two House members.)
Zinke has been elected to the House four times: in 2014 and 2016 when Montana had only one House seat, and in 2022 and 2024 when he represented the 1st Congressional District. That district includes most of western and southwestern Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. In 2024, Zinke won his race by about seven percentage points.
Unlike his previous campaigns, Zinke comes into the 2026 election as part of a Republican majority that has full control of the federal government, holding the presidency and both houses of Congress. In a speech at the Montana GOP’s Winter Kickoff event in Great Falls earlier this month, he laid out a series of accomplishments he believes Republicans can take credit for, on topics from border security to energy development to foreign diplomacy to tax policy.
Zinke told MTN he thinks the Trump administration’s actions have been good for the economy, but that many average people still don’t feel like they’ve seen improvements.
“It takes a while, but the economy has to ‘feel’ better,” he said. “It’s beginning to feel a lot better, and the sun is shining.”
Zinke said Trump’s tariff policies could be a positive in the long term, as long as they lead to permanent trade deals going forward.
“Having the tariffs provides uncertainty; a trade deal provides long-term certainty, and thus I think you can make better decisions,” he said.
So far, four Democratic candidates have announced they’re running against Zinke:
- Ryan Busse, an author and activist and 2024 candidate for governor from Kalispell
- Russ Cleveland, a former child-care business owner and Navy veteran from St. Regis
- Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader from Missoula
- Matt Rains, a rancher and Army veteran from Simms
MTN asked Zinke if he’d paid much attention to the candidates filing for his seat.
“Not really,” he said. “This is not my first rodeo. You know, candidacies come up – I think it keeps people nimble. If you don't like going out and talking to people, you shouldn’t do the job.”
Last week, as national Democrats continued to become more optimistic about the 2026 election, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it was adding the 1st District to its list of “Districts in Play” – indicating more attention on the race from outside the state.
“The DCCC will spend the next nine months making sure that come November, Montana’s First Congressional District elects a representative that finally puts them first,” DCCC chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Washington, said in a statement.
Zinke’s campaign account on X responded to an article about the DCCC’s move.
“Out of state liberals have their target on Montana,” they said. “We can’t be bought!”
The 2nd Congressional District, which includes Billings, Great Falls, Helena and much of central and eastern Montana, is not on any lists of competitive districts. National election forecasters have classified it as “solidly Republican.” Downing is seeking his second term in the House, after winning by more than 30 percentage points in 2024.
Downing told MTN affordability will again be a major concern for voters this year, but he believes the public is going to start feeling better about the economy soon.
“You're seeing inflation coming down, you're seeing the economy grow, and you're seeing the buying power that's staying in the pockets of average Americans being higher,” he said. “So I think that that's the right path, that the policies of the president and this Congress have already pushed for.”
Three other candidates have announced campaigns in the 2nd District: two Democrats and one independent:
- Sam Lux, a Democrat, a farrier from Great Falls
- Brian Miller, a Democrat, an attorney from Helena
- Mike Eisenhauer, an independent, a cardiologist from Great Falls
Downing told MTN he also hasn’t spent much time focusing on the people running against him.
“I believe that the reason I got elected into this is that my last four years in office as the state auditor, I showed up to work every day, and I actually did the work – and I think that the voters appreciate that,” he said. “That's exactly what I'm going to continue doing now: I'm going to show up and do the work.”
While candidates have already announced congressional runs and filed campaign finance paperwork, Tuesday will mark the start of the official candidate filing period – when candidates must register with the Montana Secretary of State’s Office in order to get on the ballot. When the filing period closes on March 4, we will know exactly who is running in each of these races.
