russ is one of us, fighting for all of us.
Russell Cleveland is a Montanan, Navy veteran, high school coach, rancher, husband and father. He is running for the U.S. House of Representatives to honor his late daughter and to fight for the future of this country.
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 can be. 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.
Russ grew up on a ranch in the Bitterroot Valley with a deep respect for hard work and community. Always an athlete, he was awarded a scholarship to play football for Montana Tech, where he studied electrical engineering until his desire to serve his country led him to instead enlist in the U.S. Navy. He proudly served as an Aviation Electrician for the MH-53E squadron HM-14 out of Norfolk, Virginia, graduated at the top of his class in technical training, and served honorably until 2009. This experience taught him what it means to be accountable to something larger than himself, a value that has guided his life ever since.
In 2013, he married his best friend and soulmate Dr. Kate Cleveland, and together they built a family and a business. They co-founded Rocky Mountain Kids, a company dedicated to filling the gap in quality childcare, and what began as a small startup quickly grew to serve thousands of children across Colorado. During the pandemic, when schools shut down and many parents were left without options, Russ led the company to open remote learning centers so parents could keep working and kids could stay engaged.
When Madison passed away in 2020, Russ and Kate knew they needed to come home. They moved back to Montana the next year, and like many working class Montana families, quickly found that the place that raised Russ had priced his family out of a home. So, true to his working class roots, Russ rolled up his sleeves and made it work. He set new roots in Saint Regis, Montana and built their family’s homestead with his own hands, naming it Madison Ranch in honor of their daughter.
Today, Russ and Kate are both coaches at their local high school and raise their children with the same sense of purpose that has carried them through tragedy and triumph alike.
This campaign isn’t about right versus left. It’s about taking care of our neighbors, protecting our land, and standing up to billionaires that treat Montana like their personal resort. Our home isn’t a profit center. Our families aren’t collateral. This fight 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 small towns as much as it is for the blue cities. It's for the hardworking people of this state, for this nation, and for his children. Because Russ believes it’s never too late to fight for what we love, and never too soon to start defending it.