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Political newcomer wins GOP primary in key Maine congressional district

Political newcomer Ronald Russell was projected to win the Republican primary for Maine’s 1st Congressional District late Tuesday.

Russell, who grew up on a potato farm in Fort Fairfield, Maine, and returned to the state in 2021, said during his campaign that his run for president is an attempt to “get the country back on track.”

Russell defeated fellow first-time candidate Andrew Piantidosi in the race and will face Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree in the general election.

He made his military service a hallmark of his campaign, describing his father’s time serving as a World War II gunner that convinced a young Russell to apply to the West Point military academy in upstate New York.

Russell went on to serve as a second lieutenant in the Army beginning in 1976.

FLASHBACK: MAINE MOTHER, FURIOUS, AFTER-SCHOOL STAFF, TRIED TO TRANSITION TO HER 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER

Maine lawmakers voted unanimously to kill a bill that would allow out-of-state minors to travel to Maine and undergo gender-altering surgeries. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

As the state of Russell embraces the northern border, the candidate told local media. WMTW that illegal immigration at the southern border will be a major issue for him if he is elected in November.

“The way to stop it is to stop the incentives for illegal immigration. The amount of money we are providing for housing, free lodging for them until they get back on their feet, which is a couple of years here in Maine, wages for all intents and purposes, money to help them survive, all of these are incentives for them to violate the law and appear illegally. Those must also disappear,” he told the outlet.

MAINE 2024 TOP RESULTS

After retiring from the military in 2006, Russell began working for a defense contractor before starting his own business, which, according to his campaign website, grew to 150 employees.

Maine’s 1st congressional district, although much smaller than its counterpart, contains most of the state’s population centers. It largely hugs the coast and includes the cities of Portland and Brunswick, and meets New Hampshire not far from Portsmouth.

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Maine, the pine state (FoxNews)

Following redistricting related to the 2021 census, the Cook Political Report placed the 1st District’s partisan voting index at D+9, indicating a substantial lead for Pingree in the general election.

Pingree has been successful in his recent re-election bids, although he suffered a defeat in 2002 when he challenged popular centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

The last Republican to represent the seat, former Rep. Jim Longley, Jr., was unseated in the 1996 election.


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