Policy
Positions
Specific positions, real legislation, and concrete commitments, not soundbites.
Issues are not organized by priority.
Healthcare Is a Right, Not a Privilege
Russ and his wife Kate know firsthand what a broken healthcare system costs a Montana family. Their 13-year-old daughter Madison died of leukemia while the family navigated a system that prioritizes corporate profit over patient care. No family in Montana should face that kind of financial and emotional devastation on top of a medical crisis.
Russ supports deploying a Medicare for All system that provides affordable, universal coverage and negotiates lower-cost prescription drugs, in-home care, and hospital services. In the near term, he calls on Congress to immediately extend ACA tax credits for all qualifying Montanans and Americans.
- Restore ACA cuts immediately
- Pass Medicare for All + (Covers dental, hearing, vision, mental health, rural transportation, and end of life care)
- Single-payer system
- Negotiate the prices of all drugs
- Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) to establish and protect abortion access and abortion providers
Montana Is the Least Affordable State in the Nation
2018 to 2023
Montana median home prices rose from $266,000 to $505,000 while median household income grew just 28 percent. Nearly half of all Montana renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. This crisis is driving Montana families and workers out of the state they grew up in.
Russ has direct experience. When he returned to Saint Regis in 2021, he spent three years building multi-family affordable housing units specifically designed for teachers and working-class families. He understands that the housing crisis is not just a supply problem. It is a wage problem. You can build more units, but if workers cannot afford them, nothing changes.
Russ will direct federal housing dollars toward workforce and affordable housing instead of luxury development. He supports a 50:1 pay cap to prevent executive compensation from outpacing worker wages, and he will fight to stop corporate investors from treating Montana homes as Wall Street assets.
- Federal investment directed toward workforce and affordable housing
- 50:1 executive-to-worker pay cap
- Restrictions on corporate investors purchasing residential housing stock
- Affordable housing builder incentives to increase supply of workforce and low-income units
- Create new loan programs, such as first-time home buyer incentives and down payment assistance, coupled with lending reform, including but not limited to amortized mortgage reform
Taking Corporate Money Out of Montana Elections
Russ Cleveland is running on The Montana Plan, Initiative I-194, the Transparent Election Initiative. This ballot measure would prohibit corporations and other artificial entities from spending money in Montana elections by redefining corporate charter powers at the state level. It works within the framework of Citizens United without violating it, and the Montana Supreme Court dismissed a constitutionality challenge to the initiative in April 2026.
Russ runs as what he is: a dirt-road Democrat. He doesn't accept PAC money of any kind or dark money. Every dollar in this campaign comes from real Montanans. That is not just a campaign promise. It is a notarized pledge. Russ believes that elected representatives must be accountable to the people they represent, not the corporations and billionaires who fund their campaigns.
The Montana Plan gives Montana the strongest campaign finance protections in the nation and sets a model for how states can reclaim their democracy from unlimited corporate political spending.
- Initiative I-194: The Montana Plan (Transparent Election Initiative) — Sign the pledge
Protecting Montana from Unchecked AI and Data Center Expansion
I support an AI data center development moratorium (pause development until safeguards can be written into law).
I support a workforce retraining program, paid for by the largest AI companies, to equip workers soon to be displaced by the AI revolution with the skills necessary to find new jobs. I also believe we must begin teaching the next generation how to prepare for an AI-driven world.
- Pass a moratorium on all data center construction until we can better guarantee protections for the environment and economy
- Commission a nonpartisan oversight committee to fully understand the effects of data centers, and legislate accordingly before lifting the moratorium
- 100% renewable energy from islanded power
- Closed-loop cooling with zero PFAS and independent water testing on discharged products
- Periodic sound testing using seismic equipment to detect sub-20hz waves
- Viable farmland restrictions on data center siting
- Community reinvestment dollars paid by corporations to be used for workforce retraining and education programs
An Economy That Works for Montanans, Not Corporations
Working Montanans, including farmers, teachers, tradespeople, small business owners, and healthcare workers, are being squeezed from every direction. Wages have not kept pace with the cost of housing, healthcare, or groceries. Corporate consolidation has hollowed out rural communities and driven up prices while executives extract record profits. This is not an accident. It is the result of policy choices made by representatives who answer to donors, not constituents.
Russ supports a 50:1 executive-to-worker pay cap that ensures corporations cannot grotesquely reward executives while workers struggle to afford housing in the communities where they work. He will fight to raise wages, strengthen workers’ rights to organize, and hold corporate monopolies accountable under existing antitrust law.
Montana’s economy is built on agriculture, outdoor recreation, small business, and working people. Russ will fight for trade and economic policies that protect Montana producers and workers, not Wall Street interests and multinational corporations shipping jobs overseas.
- 50:1 maximum pay gap between a business’s highest and lowest paid employee to significantly raise wages for the working class without hurting small businesses, who will later benefit from a better-paid community and healthier economy
- End tax loopholes which enable billionaires and the ultra wealthy to borrow against their own assets and avoid paying any income taxes
- Implement a small short-term stock trading tax
- Focus on any and all measures to reduce wealth inequality and empower the working class, including but not limited to tax reform and a proposed billionaire wealth tax
- Guarantee interest free student loans
- Support unions by opposing right-to-work legislation, passing the Protect America’s Workforce Act to overturn President Trump’s ban on Federal workers’ right to unionize, and pass the PRO Act to expand the right to unionize and protect strikes
- Support any legislation requiring equal pay metrics for women, as women remain on average paid 83 cents to every equally qualified male dollar in the workforce
- Remove the cap on Social Security payroll taxes to maintain the program’s solvency
Every Voice Heard. Every Nation Respected.
Montana is home to twelve federally recognized Tribal Nations. Their sovereignty, their treaties, and their voices must be respected in every decision that affects their lands, their water, and their people. Too often, federal policy has been made about Tribal communities without Tribal communities. The results have been devastating and generational.
Russ is committed to full government-to-government consultation with Montana’s Tribal Nations on all federal legislation and policy that affects Indian Country. He will fight to protect treaty rights, defend Tribal water rights, and ensure that federal trust responsibilities are honored, not undermined, by Congress.
Russ believes that rural, urban, and Tribal voices across Montana deserve equal representation in Congress. Western Montana’s 1st District includes some of the most underserved Tribal communities in the country. That ends when Russ goes to Washington.
- Full government-to-government consultation with Montana’s Tribal Nations
- Uphold all treaty obligations with our sovereign Tribal nations and restore funding cuts to tribal colleges and universities
- Cut red tape to investigate crimes on reservations in accordance with tribal authorities, particularly to address the MMIP crisis
- Protection of treaty rights and Tribal water rights
- Honor federal trust responsibilities to Indian Country
- Equal representation and investment for Tribal communities in MT-01
Building the Department of Youth Development
Montana families are working harder than ever and still falling behind. The cost of childcare alone can exceed a mortgage payment. Paid parental leave remains out of reach for most working parents. Student debt is keeping an entire generation from buying homes, starting businesses, and building the lives they were promised if they did the right thing and got an education.
Russ’s signature education proposal is the Department of Youth Development: a full rebuild of the federal Department of Education focused on creating a seamless continuum from birth to the workforce. Every high school student would have the opportunity to graduate with an accredited Associate Degree or a completed trade apprenticeship, at no cost. Universal Childcare and Pre-K programs would extend that continuum all the way back to infancy, ensuring no child, and no working parent, falls through the cracks.
When he led the nation’s first remote learning centers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russ kept children in school while essential workers kept showing up. That same commitment to practical solutions for real families is what he will bring to Congress.
- Rebuild the Department of Education to the Department of Youth Development to focus on workforce preparation
- Provide opportunity for all high school students to take college-level credits in their last two years to graduate with up to an Associate Degree, or enroll in and complete a trade apprenticeship in their last two years to graduate with employable qualifications, all at no cost to the student
- Launch nationwide Universal Childcare and Pre-K programs, creating a continuum from infancy to school age to workforce
- Support paid maternity and paternity leave
- 0% interest student loans
- Meaningful student debt relief and higher education affordability reform
LGBTQIA2S+ Rights Are Human Rights
LGBTQIA2S+ rights are not debatable: they’re human rights, and human rights are not up for grabs. I support the right for everyone to be who they are and feel safe doing so, which is why I support passing the Equality Act so LGBTQIA2S+ people cannot legally be fired, denied housing, or refused healthcare because of who they are. Discrimination makes affordability worse, and fixing access to housing, healthcare, and wages helps everyone. Equality isn’t a special interest, it’s how we build systems that actually work for Montana families.
- Pass the Equality Act to prevent LGBTQIA2S+ people from workforce, healthcare, or housing discrimination
Montana’s Public Lands Are Not for Sale
The recent USFS restructuring, which relocated 130 Forest Service positions to Salt Lake City and dismantled regional leadership, is not an efficiency measure. It is a thinly veiled effort to transfer decision-making authority over Montana’s public lands to state capitals and corporate interests, paving the way for privatization. Russ has called on Montana’s entire congressional delegation to exercise oversight and stop it.
This administration’s mismanagement of the Forest Service has already cut a quarter of its workforce and reduced hazardous fuels reduction work by nearly 40 percent last year. As Montana approaches what forecasters project to be a severe fire season, the Forest Service should be deploying resources, not loading moving vans. The Northern Region Headquarters belongs in Missoula, where it has always been, not in Salt Lake City.
Montana’s multi-billion dollar agricultural and outdoor recreation economy depends on well-managed public lands and clean water. Russ will fight against any transfer or sale of federal public lands and will work to fully fund wildfire mitigation, restoration, and conservation programs.
- Pass a “Centennial Bill” to ban discussions of public land sell-offs for 100 years without a supermajority
- Support the Roadless Rule
- Oppose the Forest Service consolidation relocation to Utah. Encourage relocation to Montana and adequate staffing
- Legalize corner crossing
- Simplify USDA grant application processes to streamline federal dollars to Montana ranchers and farmers
- End the fast track permitting program that bypasses environmental review on public lands
- Restore and increase royalties from corporate exploitation of public resources
- Ban foreign operation of or profit from public lands resources
Diplomacy First. Endless Wars Must End.
Russ believes that America’s strength is best expressed through diplomacy, international partnership, and moral leadership, not through perpetual military engagement that costs lives and treasure without a clear path to peace. The United States has spent decades and trillions of dollars on conflicts that have left communities at home underfunded and underserved.
Russ will fight to end America’s involvement in endless wars and to require full congressional authorization, as the Constitution demands, before any military deployment. He supports a foreign policy that prioritizes human rights, international law, and the dignity of all people, including those caught in the crossfire of conflicts the United States has influence over.
On the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Russ believes that American military aid must not be used to target civilians, that international humanitarian law must be respected, and that a lasting, just peace requires accountability on all sides. He will push for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and a diplomatic path forward grounded in a two-state solution.
- Reduce wasteful Department of Defense spending, and require successful audit completion
- Maintain commitment to NATO allies
- Hold Israel responsible for the genocide in Gaza by supporting an arms embargo on offensive and defensive weapons indefinitely, withdrawing all aid until International Law is followed (per U.S. Law), and an international independent genocide and war crimes investigation
- Restore and expand USAID funding and invest in soft power diplomacy, foreign aid, and international partnerships that strengthen global stability and human rights
- Oppose military and non-military intervention in Cuba
- Support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s full-scale invasion
- Rejoin the World Health Organization
End the Grift. Restore the Public Trust.
Congressman Zinke is not an outlier. He is a symptom of a system that allows elected officials to enrich themselves at the expense of the people they were elected to serve. Russ is calling on Zinke and all members of Congress to sign the discharge petition for the Restore Trust Act, H.R. 5106, which would force a full debate and vote on banning congressional stock trading.
End Citizens United. Ban dark money. No PACs. These are not talking points. They are the operating principles of this campaign and the legislative agenda Russ will carry to Washington.
- End/circumvent Citizens United
- Ban stock trading for members of Congress and their spouses
- Institute a binding code of Judicial Ethics
- 5-year moratorium on public service to lobbying
- Institute reasonable term limits for members of Congress in both houses
- Pass a balanced budget amendment to legally require Congress to pass a balanced budget, starting in the year 2037, with accountability measures enforced on members of Congress
- Enforce existing anti-monopoly and consumer protection laws through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, such as the Truth in Lending Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act
Enforce the Law. Respect the Constitution.
Russ supports enforcing immigration law. He also believes that enforcement must be carried out lawfully, without violence, and with full respect for the constitutional rights of everyone in this country. What is happening now: masked federal agents operating without accountability, citizens assaulted, law-abiding Americans killed. That is not immigration enforcement. It is lawless government overreach.
Russ called for the resignations of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Director Todd Lyons, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, and U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino. Noem and Bovino are out. Lyons leaves at the end of May. Only Scott remains. That is not a coincidence. That is accountability. The pattern of lawless enforcement does not end with personnel changes, and Scott must still answer for it.
Russ has also called on Governor Greg Gianforte to personally confirm with President Trump that violent ICE raids will not come to Montana communities. Montana’s local law enforcement is capable and trusted. When federal partnership is warranted, it should be coordinated, lawful, and targeted, not a blunt instrument of fear.
Russ believes in a clear, humane, and constitutional immigration system. He will work to reform immigration policy in a way that upholds the rule of law, treats all people with dignity, and reflects the values Montana communities actually hold.
- End ICE funding altogether, improve local mechanisms to enforce immigration violations (per current civil law) and limit federal overreach
- Remove red tape in pathways to citizenship to incentivize legal immigration
- Revise the Patriot Act to strengthen privacy protections for Americans
- End private prisons
- Protect the 2nd Amendment while passing reasonable reforms such as a waiting period between purchase and pickup, mandatory background checks, red flag laws, and mental health screenings
Honor the Service. Deliver the Support.
Russ Cleveland is a Navy veteran. He knows what it means to serve, and he knows what it means to come home to a system that does not always hold up its end of the deal. Montana has one of the highest per-capita veteran populations in the country. These men and women deserve more than speeches and flag-waving. They deserve healthcare, housing, mental health support, and economic opportunity that actually works.
Russ will fight to fully fund the VA, expand access to mental health services for veterans and their families, and ensure that no Montana veteran falls through the cracks of a bureaucratic system. He will also oppose the deployment of American troops in conflicts that lack a clear mission, a defined objective, and the full backing of Congress as required by the Constitution.
- Full funding for VA healthcare and mental health services
- Expanded support for veterans’ housing and economic transition
- Congressional authorization required for military deployments
- Restore funding to SNAP, USAID, the VA, and the National Institutes of Health
- Enact survivor benefits program for dependents of disabled veterans of any service rating
See the Bigger Picture
For the values and vision behind these positions, read Russ’s full campaign platform.