John Russell (Florida politician)

Infobox_Politician| name=John T. Russell


imagesize = 150px
order= U.S. Congressional Candidate
party=Democratic Party
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John Russell (born February 11, 1956) is an American politician from Florida, the 2008 Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 5th congressional_district. He is running against the Republican incumbent Virginia Brown-Waite, to whom he lost in 2006.

Background

Russell was born in Buffalo, New York. He is a businessman and acute care nurse practitioner who resides in Dade City, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area. He holds degrees from D'Youville College School of Nursing (BSN), Niagara University, SUNY Buffalo (MBA in Health Systems Management), and the University of South Florida School of Nursing (MSN). [http://www.johnrussellforcongress.com/page.asp?PageId=20]

In 2004 he sought the Democratic nomination to oppose Brown-Waite, but finished second in a four-person primary. He then became a regional coordinator for Betty Castor's 2004 campaign for United States Senate.

2006 U.S. House of Representatives election

On September 5, 2006, Russell won a three-way Democratic primary. He attributed his victory to his willingness to confront the powerful, saying, "Democrats are sick of people who just go along and get along," although one of his opponents in the primary called him a "pit bull" for his aggressive style. [Elena Lesley, [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/07/news_pf/Citrus/Russell_eagerly_eyes_.shtml "Russell eagerly eyes Nov. 7"] , "St. Petersburg Times", September 7, 2006]

Issues

One issue raised by Russell was Social Security. The district has one of the highest concentration of retirees in the country. [Table P23. Households by Presence of People 65 Years and Over, Household Size, and Household Type [11] - Universe: Households, United States Census 2000] Russell is opposed to any privatization of Social Security, [ [http://www.johnrussellforcongress.com/page.asp?PageId=21 "Vision"] , Russell campaign website (accessed October 15, 2006)] something that has been proposed several times by the Bush Administration. [William M. Welch, [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-09-seniors_x.htm "Seniors skeptical of Bush proposal"] , "USA Today", February 10, 2005]

Russell said he has opposed the war in Iraq since its inception, and now believes the U.S. needs to set a deadline for withdrawing troops. [Elena Lesley, [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/14/Hernando/Congressional_forum_g.shtml "Congressional forum gets testy: Hecklers get intense as Ginny Brown-Waite and challenger John Russell trade jabs and barbs"] , "St. Petersburg Times", October 14, 2006]

Russell received 40.1% of the vote, to Brown-Waite's 59.9%. Brown-Waite had won by a 32% margin in 2004. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/ref/elections/2006/House.html "U.S. House Results"] , "The New York Times" online (accessed December 7, 2006)]

References

External links

* [http://www.johnrussellforcongress.com/ Campaign website]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/26/Hernando/Let_s_be_clear__Russe.shtml/ Recent Article]