Ronald Russell to challenge Rep. Pingree in Maine’s 1st District

MAINE (WMTW) -Military veteran Ronald Russell will face Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree for Southern Maine’s Congressional District 1 seat this November.

Russell, a political newcomer, won Tuesday’s GOP primary for Southern Maine’s Congressional District 1, defeating Andrew Piantidosi.

The race was called by the Associated Press at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Russell grew up on his family’s potato farm in Northern Maine.

“It was hard work, but rewarding work,” he said. “I think you see the fruits of your labor on a farm.”

Russell returned to Maine recently to run for office.

“I thought running for office was the way to have an impact,” he said. “I knew I was always coming back to Maine.”

Russell attended West Point before serving in the Army as an Airborne Ranger and Special Forces Green Beret. He believes his time in the military will aid him in his service as a congressman.

“In the past, people have talked about candidates being wishy-washy,” he said. “In the military, when we analyze a mission, we use several factors. When those factors change, the course of action you are pursuing should change accordingly.”

Russell says he has core conservative principles, but he is open to other thoughts and ideas for how to best serve the people of Maine.

“I think that’s the same here,” he said. “I’m going to hear some Democratic opinions that I had not considered up to this point, and that’s going to cause me to change how I think about things.”

After completing his service in the military, Russell went on to live in the South, running a small business. He says this experience taught him how the government can impact businesses.

“I started a business basically doing operations and intelligence work like I had been doing in the military,” he said. “I got to see as a businessman how important those tax cuts were. I really did not have an appreciation for it until I ran the books for our business.”

If elected, Russell hopes to tackle immigration. Although he supports legal immigration, he believes illegal immigrants are burdening communities.

“First thing is the border has to be closed,” he said. “We need to stop illegal immigration before we can address our legal immigration system.

He also believes illegal immigrants are entering the United States due to the promise of resources.

“The way to stop it is to stop the incentives for illegal immigration,” he said. “The amount of money that we are providing housing, free housing for them until they get on their feet, which is a couple of years here in Maine, salaries, for all intents and purposes, money to help them subsist, those are all incentives to have them break the law and come across illegally. Those need to go away as well.”

Another issue Russell hopes to address is education. This is something he values, referencing several family members who work in education.

“My mother was a teacher,” he said. “Two of my sisters are teachers. My daughter’s a teacher, and I have several nieces and nephews right here in the great state of Maine who are teachers.”

He says the U.S. is falling behind, and the problem lies with time used on social issues, instead of core classes.

“We talk about diversity, equity and inclusion. I spent 30 years in the Army working as a team, and candidly, the color of someone’s skin didn’t make a lick towards the difference,” he said. “It seems like promoting diversity, equity and inclusion works against all the things that we worked so hard to achieve in the military. In my 30 years, I don’t believe we have a systemic racism problem in our military. I don’t believe we have a white supremacy problem in our military.”

Russell says he supports the Second Amendment, but there needs to be some changes as to who is allowed to buy a gun.

He believes the current background check system is inadequate, and he thinks mental health records should be part of background checks so firearms don’t get into the hands of those who are in the midst of a crisis.

“It’s not adequate because we know that people have purchased weapons legally going through that system that had some mental issues that should have been addressed. They should not have been allowed to purchase firearms,” he said. “That system does not have access to information that would tell you ‘this man is a nut job, and he’s trying to get this weapon because he has talked about going out and attacking a high school.’ That guy should not, the guy or gal, should not be getting a weapon.”

Russell believes boosting the economy is how to address the housing crisis in Southern Maine, and he wants to work for affordable housing for those in need.

“Inflation has had a tremendous impact on rental properties and their cost,” he said. “I notice here in southern Maine, affordable housing has a negative connotation to it. Folks think that we’re housing illegal immigrants only in affordable housing or folks that will tend to be a problem. I think people just need a place to live and provide a good place to live at an affordable price.”

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