Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2026

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Montana's 1st Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Montana
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Likely Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Montana's 1st Congressional District U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd Montana elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 1st Congressional District of Montana, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026.

To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Montana District 1

Incumbent Ryan K. Zinke and Russell Cleveland are running in the general election for U.S. House Montana District 1 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Ryan K. Zinke (R)
	Submit photo	Russell Cleveland (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Russell Cleveland

Voting information

See also: Voting in Montana

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Russell Cleveland

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Ryan K. Zinke	Republican Party	$1,048,522	$468,666	$1,260,388	As of March 31, 2025
Russell Cleveland	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	5/6/2025	4/29/2025	4/22/2025	4/15/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

2024

See also: Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2024

Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)

Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Montana District 1

Incumbent Ryan K. Zinke defeated Monica Tranel and Dennis Hayes in the general election for U.S. House Montana District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan K. Zinke (R)	52.3	168,529
		Monica Tranel (D)	44.6	143,783
	Submit photo	Dennis Hayes (L)	3.1	9,954

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 322,266
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1

Monica Tranel advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Monica Tranel	100.0	59,806

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,806
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1

Incumbent Ryan K. Zinke defeated Mary Todd in the Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan K. Zinke	73.7	66,409
		Mary Todd	26.3	23,647

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 90,056
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Cory Moran (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Montana District 1

Dennis Hayes defeated Ernie Noble (Unofficially withdrew) in the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Dennis Hayes	65.4	390
	Submit photo	Ernie Noble (Unofficially withdrew)	34.6	206

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 596
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2022

See also: Montana's 1st Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Montana District 1

Ryan K. Zinke defeated Monica Tranel and John Lamb in the general election for U.S. House Montana District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan K. Zinke (R)	49.6	123,102
		Monica Tranel (D)	46.5	115,265
		John Lamb (L)	3.9	9,593

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 247,960
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1

Monica Tranel defeated Cora Neumann and Tom Winter in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Monica Tranel	64.9	37,138
		Cora Neumann	26.9	15,396
		Tom Winter	8.2	4,723

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,257
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1

Ryan K. Zinke defeated Albert Olszewski, Mary Todd, Matt Jette, and Mitch Heuer in the Republican primary for U.S. House Montana District 1 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan K. Zinke	41.7	35,601
		Albert Olszewski	39.7	33,927
		Mary Todd	10.4	8,915
		Matt Jette	5.8	4,973
	Submit photo	Mitch Heuer	2.3	1,953

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 85,369
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Lynn Hofland (R)
• Allen McKibben (R)

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. John Lamb advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Montana District 1.

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

See also

Montana	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Montana congressional delegation Voting in Montana Montana elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Montana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Steve Daines (R)

Tim Sheehy (R)

Representatives

District 1

Ryan Zinke (R)

District 2

Troy Downing (R)

Republican Party (4)