Montana
National Democrats See Pickup Potential in Montana’s Western House District – Flathead Beacon
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) named Montana’s western House district to its list of “Districts in Play” for the 2026 election cycle Tuesday, but didn’t endorse a specific candidate in the crowded Democratic primary. The seat is one of 44 currently held by Republicans the DCCC thinks could be within reach for Democrats this November.
Political analysts have long speculated Montana’s western district, which includes the Democratic strongholds of Bozeman and Missoula, could be competitive for Democrats. The Cook Political Report ranks Montana’s first congressional district as “likely Republican,” while it ranks the eastern district and U.S. Senate races as solidly Republican.
The DCCC’s involvement in the race brings a national spotlight and training opportunities as four Democratic hopefuls compete for the chance to take on Rep. Ryan Zinke in November’s general election. While candidate filing for the primary remains open until March 4, Zinke has yet to draw a primary challenger.
The four-person Democratic primary field includes Ryan Busse, the party’s 2024 gubernatorial candidate; Russell Cleveland, a rancher from St. Regis; Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader from Missoula; and Matt Rains, a rancher from Simms, just outside the district’s lines. This year’s primary election will take place June 2.
Montana gained the western district following 2020’s census, and the first election the district was in play was 2022. But Democrats have come up short since Montana gained the seat back.
In both 2022 and 2024, Zinke faced off against Monica Tranel, a Missoula attorney and former Olympic rower. Tranel came within four points of Zinke in 2022. In 2024, her campaign earned a nod from the DCCC. But Zinke widened his margin of victory between 2022 and 2024, besting Tranel by seven points in the latter year. His campaign manager highlighted that margin when asked about the DCCC’s involvement in this year’s election.
“Montana can’t be bought by D.C. libs’ dark money,” said Heather Swift, Zinke’s campaign manager. “It didn’t work in ’24 and won’t work this year. Despite more than $10 million in attack ads against Zinke, Montanans doubled down on their support when they reelected him by double the margin.”
Zinke, a long-time politician, first served a stint as Montana’s at-large congressman from 2015 to 2017. President Donald Trump tapped Zinke to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of the Interior during his first administration, a position Zinke held from 2017 to 2018. And, he has won in the western district since its creation, carving out a brand as a Republican willing to take a stand for public lands. His bid for re-election has already earned an endorsement from Trump.
Still, to Zinke’s Democratic challengers, the DCCC’s involvement in the race indicates his vulnerability. Busse, who ran for governor in 2024, pointed to a poll his campaign released when it launched as evidence. The poll showed Busse with a 47%-43% lead over Zinke among 424 likely voters in western Montana. That lead was within the poll’s 4.76% margin of error.
As the candidates begin hitting the campaign trail, universally, they said they’ve heard about issues like housing, healthcare and affordability. It’s on those issues that they hope to draw a distinction from the incumbent, who they say hasn’t represented Montanans’ interests on those issues in Congress.
“I’m glad the national Democrats see what Montanans have known for years — Ryan Zinke is a coward of a congressman who doesn’t show up to represent or face his constituents, and folks here are ready for a new generation of leadership,” said Forstag, one of the candidates looking to face Zinke. “Montana families have been left behind by politicians in D.C., and I’m running to finally start fixing our broken systems of housing, healthcare, and childcare.”
Cleveland, who has been in the race since April, and Rains, the rancher from Simms, each seconded the idea that Montanans are ready for a change — though they also highlighted that Montanans will be the ones who ultimately make that choice.
“This race is not going to be dictated by Washington, it will be decided by Montanans that are struggling to get by with rising health care costs, lack of affordable housing and tariffs that threaten our way of life,” Rains said. “… We need a candidate that will stand up for Montana values and appeal to those who feel like they’ve been written off, regardless of political party. We need a candidate who can win.”
“National attention can be helpful, but this race will and should be decided by Montanans, not Washington D.C. consultants, dark money groups or out of touch politicians,” Cleveland said. “As a Navy veteran and business leader, I believe real representation can only be restored through service and accountability, by building trust and consistently showing up. Flipping this seat is only possible by putting working Montanans first.”
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WASHINGTON ― Montana Republican Senate nominee Kurt Alme, who previously served as his state’s U.S. attorney, cut a plea deal in 2020 that allowed a tribal police officer who sexually abused a 6-year-old girl to serve less than a year in prison and avoid being registered as a sex offender.
Alme, who has President Donald Trump’s backing in his bid for Senate, served as Montana’s U.S. attorney in two stints. Trump appointed him both times; Alme served in the role from September 2017 through December 2020, and then again from March 2025 through March 2026.
Alme oversaw the case of Mychal Thomas Damon, who was indicted in June 2019 by a grand jury on one count of abusive sexual contact with an individual under 12, which carries a maximum punishment of a lifetime in prison, a $250,000 fine and no less than five years to a lifetime of supervised release. The average sentence for this crime is less severe, but still significant: 62 months in prison, no fine and 143 months of supervised release, based on an analysis of 2025 data provided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Damon, 28, had admitted he touched the 6-year-old’s genitals. But in February 2020, Alme’s office filed a plea deal in his case that reduced his charge to felony child abuse.
The changes in the plea deal raised the alleged age of the victim from below 12 to below 14, stripped out the language of sexual intent and moved the offense out of the federal sex crime framework, meaning Damon would no longer be required to register as a sex offender. It jointly recommended Damon be sentenced to the time he’d already served of 324 days, and required only a sex offender evaluation. Alme’s name appears on the bottom of the document, along with a signature by his assistant U.S. attorney, Cassady Adams.
In June, Alme filed a sentencing memorandum that described Damon’s conduct, which included details of him touching the child’s vagina with skin-to-skin contact, and the adverse effect it had on her mental health. Local reporting at the time said the victim had told a therapist “Mychal touched me” and hurt her by putting his fingers in her “hoo hoo.”
Ten days later, Alme announced Damon was being sentenced to time served of 324 days and two years of supervised release. As of June 2026, Damon is not listed in the national sex offender registry or in Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry.
It’s not clear why Alme reduced the charges against Damon as significantly as he did. During part of his tenure as U.S. attorney, his office declined 64% of sexual assault cases. He conceded in a 2019 interview that this “is something that has to be worked on,” and noted that a lot of these cases are declined due to “weak or insufficient evidence.”
Asked what happened in Damon’s case, an Alme campaign spokesman on Thursday lashed out at unnamed Democrats for trying to make him look bad.
“Kurt’s liberal opponents are twisting the facts to manufacture a fake narrative that exploits crimes against women and children,” said Alme’s spokesperson. “Department of Justice policy required defendants to plead to the most serious charge readily provable from the evidence. Kurt strongly supported the Multi-Disciplinary Teams on our Native American reservations, led by his office, to support investigations of crimes against children and to support victims.”
His spokesperson also pushed back on the idea that Alme unreasonably declined a large number of sexual assault cases during his tenure as U.S. attorney.
“Kurt’s office prosecuted every viable sexual abuse felony referred to it and pursued the most serious charge readily provable from the evidence,” the spokesperson said. “Many ‘declined’ cases were to allow more appropriate tribal prosecutions ― they were not dropped. Kurt will bring his years of experience prosecuting criminals and working with the Sexual Assault Response Teams on our Native American reservations to the U.S. Senate to strengthen investigations, support victims, and better protect women and children.”
The campaign pointed HuffPost to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office that found the most common reason for U.S. attorney’s offices to decline sexual abuse cases referred in from Indian country was “weak or insufficient admissible evidence.” It also highlighted statements of support for Alme in an October 2025 press release by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), when he celebrated Alme being confirmed as U.S. attorney.
Alme is currently running for Daines’ Senate seat, and Daines went out of his way to clear the path for him. In a stunning and orchestrated maneuver, the two-term senator in March abruptly withdrew from reelection as Alme filed to run for his seat, minutes before the state’s filing period closed. Daines’ last-minute change-up was an effort to block potential Democrats or any major Republican challenger from jumping into an open Senate race.
Alme is taking on Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent candidate Seth Bodnar in the November election. Bankhead and Bodner have been duking it out for weeks, with each appealing to different factions of the Democratic party and calling on the other to drop out.
Bankhead, a retired Air Force officer, unexpectedly won the Democratic primary earlier this month, boosted by grassroots supporters and more than $2.5 million in outside money from a progressive veterans’ PAC. But Bodnar, a former University of Montana president who did not appear on the primary ballot, has bipartisan endorsements from prominent establishment figures, including former Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot. He’s also significantly outraised Bankhead and Alme.
This Senate seat is rated “solid Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook’s Political Report, meaning Alme is well-positioned to win the general election. But this race would be more competitive if Bodner and Alme were going head to head, without Bankhead in the running.
Where Khloe Kardashian Stands With Ex French Montana More Than 10 Years After Breakup
French Montana is done keeping up with reality TV.
In fact, he only agreed to appear on Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Kourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons over a decade ago as a favor to then-girlfriend Khloe Kardashian.
“She said to get on the show,” he exclusively told E! News at the BET Awards on June 28. “And I got on the show. Shout out to Khloe.”
The “Ever Since U Left Me” rapper, who split with Kardashian in December 2014 after eight months of dating, said the experience was “fun” because her family kept it real.
“They filmed their real life,” he continued. “And we were part of something together that one time. So it felt great. It didn’t feel like work because they film what they do everyday.”
As for his future in reality TV, the 41-year-old said those days are over, shutting down any prospective offers with a simple, “Negative.”
Although the “Unforgettable” artist—whose real name is Karim Kharbouch—may not be returning to television anytime soon, he has no problem hanging out with his ex-girlfriend these days.
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