From Montana.
For Montana.
Family man. Coach. Entrepreneur. Rancher. Veteran.
Fueled By
Personal Loss
When Russ and his wife Kate lost their oldest daughter, Madison, to leukemia at the age of 13, they saw firsthand how broken the American healthcare system was. The pain of watching her suffer was matched only by the anger of watching politicians slash critical funding for medical research in the pursuit of more tax breaks for billionaires.
That moment changed everything.
Russ is running for Congress because no parent should ever have to watch their child fight a deadly disease in a system rigged against them.
Watch Russ’s Story
A Montanan Through
and Through
Russ Cleveland is an Independent Democrat, a dirt-road Democrat from rural Montana, not beholden to the national party or D.C. insiders. Russ is a Navy veteran, an entrepreneur, a high school track and football coach, and a cattle rancher. Russ is a proud husband and father to a brady bunch of seven incredible children. He’s running for the U.S. House to honor his late daughter’s memory and to fight for a stronger, healthier and more affordable future for every Montana family.
Roots in a
Purple Montana
Russ grew up on a farm in the Bitterroot Valley with a deep respect for hard work and community. Always an athlete, he went on to play football and study electrical engineering at Montana Tech, until his desire to serve his country led him to enlist in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Electrician.
Russ is proud to have deep family roots in a once purple Montana, with parents from Townsend, MT and grandparents and great grandparents from the Flathead Valley.
Service to
Our Country
Russ proudly served as an Aviation Electrician for the MH-53E squadron HM-14 out of Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated at the top of his class in technical training and served honorably until 2009 on active duty, and 2013 in the reserves.
This experience taught him what it means to be accountable to something larger than himself, a value that has guided his life ever since.
Accountable to something larger than himself.
Entrepreneurship
and Business
In 2013, Russ married his best friend and soulmate, Dr. Kate Cleveland, and together they built a family and a business rooted in service to their community. After his military service, Russ spent nearly a decade in banking running a large portion of the Denver market for U.S. Bank, working to support community members’ and small businesses’ financial needs.
He fell in love with small business, later co-founding Rocky Mountain Kids, which quickly expanded to serve thousands of children across the region. When the pandemic struck, Russ led the nation’s first remote learning centers, standing up virtual learning labs to keep children in school and their parents working.
Through this work, Russ also helped launch Universal Pre-K programs across Colorado, expanding access to early childhood education for thousands of Colorado students.
Coming Home
to Montana
After the loss of their eldest daughter in 2020, Russ and Kate knew they needed to come home. They returned to Montana the next year and, like many working-class families, quickly found that the place that raised Russ had priced their growing family out of most options.
So, true to his blue collar roots, Russ rolled up his sleeves and made it work. He planted new roots in Saint Regis, MT and built their family’s homestead and cattle ranch with his own hands, naming it Madison Ranch in honor of their daughter.
Russ also spent his first three years back in Montana building multi-family affordable housing units in Saint Regis, aimed at meeting the needs of teachers and working class families in his community.
Today, Russ and Kate coach at their local high school and raise their children with the same sense of purpose that has carried them through tragedy and triumph alike.
Why Congress?
Russ grew up in a purple Montana, at a time when Montanans were neighbors first, not political adversaries. Russ is committed to a campaign that isn’t about right versus left, but instead top versus bottom.
Russ’s campaign is focused on fixing the things that negatively impact all Montanans: Healthcare, Affordability, and Corruption.
This fight ahead is for the land we grew up on, the people who raised us, and the children who’ll inherit what we leave behind.
For Russ, this campaign is for Montana’s rural towns as much as it is for the blue cities. It’s for the hardworking people of this state, for this nation, and for the next generation.
Not Bought.
Not Backing Down.
Join the Movement
Stand with Russ. No corporate PACs. No special interests. Just Montana.