Bruce Westerman
RIncumbentFEC H4AR04048
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$3.0M
Cash on hand: $4.5M
2026 race
AR-04 — U.S. House
2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Bruce Westerman.
Read the record. Not the rhetoric.
See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
DeepSyte tracks the money and the record in every race against the issues you care about — not party, not press releases. Take the 2-minute values quiz to see your alignment.
How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the Arkansas Secretary of State.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$3.0M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
James "Rus" Russell, III
DChallengerFEC H6AR04084
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$22K
Cash on hand: $5K
1 defeated candidate — show
Steven Layne O'Donnell
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6AR04100
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle—
Cash on hand: —
Local signal
Early read on AR-04 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Bruce Westermanleans positive
2 pos3 neutral1 neg6 articles
James "Rus" Russell, IIIlimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$3.0M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$3.0M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$0
No outside spending reported yet.
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bruce Westerman(R)incumbent | $3.0M | — | — | $3.0M |
James "Rus" Russell, III(D) | $22K | — | — | $22K |
1 defeated candidate — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Steven Layne O'Donnell(D)defeated | $0 | — | — | $0 |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside AR versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Bruce Westerman(R)28% in-state · $1.4M itemized
$393K in-state$1.0M out-of-state
James "Rus" Russell, III(D)100% in-state · $3K itemized
$3K in-state$0 out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Westerman | Russell | You |
|---|---|---|---|
Environment The government should set legally enforceable limits on greenhouse gas emissions. | — | ||
Environment Government environmental reviews for energy and infrastructure projects should move faster, even if it means fewer reviews. | — | ||
Healthcare A government-run public health insurance option should be added to the ACA marketplace. | — | ||
Taxes People making over $400,000 a year should pay higher taxes. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.