Dem House candidate faces authenticity questions after kitchen table ad omits $1.6M estate
· Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: A campaign staffer for Democratic House hopeful in Montana, Ryan Busse, would not confirm or deny whether their town home was used for a campaign ad instead of Busse's four-acre $1.6 million rural estate.
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The ad, titled "Let's Fix It," shows Busse and his wife listening to news headlines in the kitchen of a modest town home as Busse fixes coffee.
"How much more of this are we supposed to take?" Busse asked his wife as he threw a dishtowel he was wiping his hands with on the counter next to him. In the next scene, Busse can be seen hauling road signs into a silver car as he touts his campaign message to voters and what motivates him to run.
However, a review of public records, photos on real estate websites, and past interviews Busse has done at his actual home in Kalispell, Montana, suggests the residence appearing in the ad belongs to one of his staffers, Alice Collins. When Fox News Digital reached out to the Busse campaign and Collins about the matter, Collins said that "at no point in the ad do we claim it to be Ryan’s house." Neither responded to repeated inquiries asking them to confirm or deny whether the town home used in the ad was Collins' residence.
Busse, a former firearms executive and failed gubernatorial candidate in 2024, says in the ad he will "fight for working people, not the wealthy," and he has campaigned on a message about affordability for the common man in a state that is one of the least affordable when it comes to owning a home.
"If a candidate seeking to crusade on an affordability message feels the need to film campaign commercials away from their own home, that says a lot about the state of socialism and the demonization of prosperity in today’s Democratic Party," said Republican strategist Colin Reed.
"The inauthenticity of Busse’s ad reflects a pattern we’re seeing in races across the country — America's last elites trying to hide their true identity and agenda because their policies and values don’t resonate with the values and experiences of everyday Americans," added Ashley Hayek, President of America First Works. "When candidates like Busse lie about their mansions to seem 'relatable,' it only highlights how disconnected they are from hardworking families. Voters are looking for America First policies that will improve their lives, not deception."
Reed added that financial success should be "celebrated" and not something anyone feels the need to hide or conceal.
"Home ownership was once seen as a key pillar of the American dream, and anyone running for Congress would be wise to put forward policies that will make it easier for people to buy homes rather than strangle them in more red tape and an ever more expansive federal government amassing power in Washington D.C.," Reed concluded.
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In a 2024 interview, Busse and his wife, Sara, talked to KPAX-TV while Busse was in the middle of a failed bid for governor. The interview took place at his Kalispell home, where the family has enough room to raise 11 chickens and where their hunting dogs have "free rein" across the open property.
On Zillow and Redfin, the residence is listed at $1.5 million and $1.6 million, respectively, but no residence evaluation is on Busse's financial disclosures because candidates are not required to disclose the value of their primary homes, just investment properties. Records from the Montana State library show Busse's Kalispell home is over 4 acres.
Meanwhile, an address linked to Busse's staffer, Collins, includes a Google street view that shows what looks like the same home and silver car from the campaign ad. The home includes what appears to be very little yard space and Zillow photos of Busse's Kalispell home also show a much different kitchen than what was seen in the ad.
When Fox News Digital reached out to Collins and the Busse campaign repeatedly to confirm whether they used her residence for the advertisement, Collins responded, suggesting Fox News Digital focus on "stories about the actual issues Montanans are facing," such as the "affordability crisis."
Redfin ranks Montana 8th for the highest home prices in the country and, according to The Montana Free Press, median single-family home sale price in Bozeman in February was $715,000, down from a high of $898,000 in May 2023.
Authenticity questions similar to those facing Busse were also raised during Virginia GOP candidate Derrick Anderson's campaign in 2024 to take over current Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's House seat she vacated to run for higher office.
While he was running, Anderson posted a campaign photo of himself beaming next to a woman and three kids, along with another showing them dining at a table together as a group. Some thought the images suggested the woman was his wife and the kids his own, but the Republican candidate was actually newly engaged with no kids and lived alone with his dog, per his campaign website, according to reporting from the New York Post at the time. His staff blasted critics for misconstruing the images of Anderson taking photos with female supporters and their kids.
Anderson ultimately lost to the current House Rep from Virginia's 7th Congressional District, Democrat Eugene Vindman.