Prescott touts experience in both public, private sectors in serving Congressional District 1

In a packed Republican primary for the 1st Congressional District, an engineer and former Executive Councilor is leading in the polls, but most voters remain undecided.

Russell Prescott is tallying 19% in the most recent poll published by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center on Aug. 22. He leads Manchester Alderman At-Large Joseph Kelly Levasseur by nine points, and Novel Iron Works owner Hollie Noveletsky and business owner Chris Bright were polling at four points each. Two-time state Rep. Max Abramson came in at 1%, leaving 60% of voters undecided.

And he’s making a name for himself on the national stage — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul recently shared his endorsement of Prescott’s campaign.

Prescott said Tuesday his vast experience between the public and private spheres prepared him to represent New Hampshire at the federal level. The 1st Congressional District is occupied by Democrat Chris Pappas, who’s won election after election to retain the seat, and Prescott says he’s the candidate prepared to flip the district on Nov. 5.

The state Primary Election is Sept. 10. 

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Prescott said shoring up the economy will reduce knock-on effects experienced by consumers, and securing the southern border should be a top priority of the federal government. Noting he’d served 10 years in the state Senate and four years on the Executive Council, Prescott said his experience would translate into success at the federal level.

“I’ll bring that same philosophy of lower taxes and less spending and taking care of the needs of our state and balancing budgets,” he said. “Take that to Washington, D.C.”

Prescott, who is president and owner of R.E. Prescott Company, said his experience in the private and public sectors prepared him for Congress. When the state was faced with a budget deficit, he said he concentrated on balancing needs and wants and cutting spending, not raising taxes, and returned a budget surplus.

“It’s important to have the experience of being a businessman and balancing budgets and taking care of your employees and offering great services to your customers, to carry that forward into a proven public service record,” he said. “People look for that kind of experience, I have that kind of experience in both the private sector and the public sector.”

With the costs of goods and services rising for working families in New Hampshire, Prescott pointed to reducing the costs of energy, particularly of home-heating oil.

“That will help curb the affordability problems that we have today,” he said. “With being able to have lower energy costs, we’ll have less struggles making ends meet. That’s No. 1. The other is that in the long term, inflation is caused by government overspending — we must reduce our budget deficit, as I’ve proven I can do here in the State of New Hampshire. We need to do the same thing in Washington, D.C.”

Pivoting to a discussion regarding the inflating costs of housing in New Hampshire, which has been a widely discussed issue throughout the state for several years, Prescott said reducing the budget deficit would reduce interest rates, working to reduce the cost of housing for consumers. 

“If the interest rates are low, the cost of housing drops as well,” he said. “Because the amount of money it takes to borrow is lowered, monthly payments of mortgages come down.”

In terms of reducing illegal immigration into the country, Prescott said the top priority should be stopping the flow of illegal narcotics across the northern and southern borders and curbing human trafficking. He suggested a return to former President Donald Trump's “remain in Mexico” policies, implemented in 2019, which required migrants seeking asylum to navigate the process in Mexico before entering the United States. 

“Our laws have been passed on immigration for the past centuries by both parties,” he said. “They should be respected and the Constitution should be upheld, and that’s not being done by [Congressman] Chris Pappas and that’s why we have continuing thousands of thousands of people every day coming in over our border and staying here in our country illegally.”

Prescott added reducing the number of undocumented immigrants into the United States would save the government money and enable it to reduce taxes.

“We really need to stop spending money on illegal immigration issues, that way we can balance our budget much faster and grow our economy by reducing taxes,” he said. 

Returning to a discussion of his experience, Prescott explained the Executive Council was created to be a check on the power of the governor and presides over the awarding of contracts, any spending over $5,000 and the review of appointments such as state judges. He said honesty, integrity and the willingness to follow the U.S. Constitution are the most important traits in an effective public servant.

“It’s taught me that the best person for a job is not necessarily the one that has all of the experience that someone else has, the most important point would be do they have the integrity to carry out with honesty and hard work to do the job?” he said. “That’s what’s the most important thing. The background doesn’t mean as much as will the job be accomplished with integrity? Especially when it comes to judges — integrity is No. 1.”

Prescott said he’d like New Hampshire voters to know he’ll stick to his personal code and make sure he’s transparent in terms of how he views political issues. 

“I adhere to a moral code and mine is to treat others the way you would like to be treated. And that goes hand-in-hand with how I ran my business and also how I’ve now been running for office,” he said. “Always running a positive campaign on the issues and making sure people know where I stand on the issues.”