Prescott signs up for rerun bid for Congress in 2024
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Jul. 27—KINGSTON — Former Executive Councilor and state Sen. Russell Prescott launched his second straight bid for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District Thursday morning.
Prescott, 62, finished fourth in a 10-person GOP primary in 2022 that Karoline Leavitt of Hampton won.
In the general election, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-NH, won his third term after beating Leavitt by about 25,000 votes for an 8% victory.
"Granite Staters are ready for a change in our representation in Congress, whether it's rising energy costs or the opioid epidemic, the broken southern border or a lack of support for our men and women in law enforcement, the rising debt and daily attempts to infringe on our personal liberties," Prescott said in his announcement.
"I hear it day in and day out from New Hampshire families that our current leadership in Washington is failing us."
Prescott said he's already received commitments for more than $100,000 in campaign donations from more than 80 individuals.
"Our state's leadership in Congress has forgotten the independent 'Live Free or Die' values we pride ourselves on in New Hampshire," Prescott said.
Prescott represented two Senate districts changed by redistricting with towns from Newmarket to Plaistow and Derry to Seabrook.
When then-Executive Councilor Chris Sununu, R-Newfields, left that seat to run and win as governor in 2016, Prescott left the Senate to serve two terms on the council.
He left in 2021 after purchasing his company, R.E. Prescott Co., a wholesale distributor and manufacturer of water treatment systems.
Prescott worked as a professional engineer for 30 years and designed many of the products his company manufactures. He holds several patents for removing arsenic and radon from water.
The company, founded in 1954 by his father, employs 50 people and has operated in the same Exeter building since 1963.
A New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley said Prescott was an out-of-touch, "extreme MAGA" Republican who the voters would reject if he's the GOP nominee in 2024.
"Extreme MAGA Republicans have taken over Congress, and Russell Prescott wants to join them to be another vote for Kevin McCarthy and the far-right agenda that is threatening Medicare and Social Security, rolling back abortion rights, and making deep cuts to vital programs like food stamps and Head Start," Buckley said.
"Russell Prescott celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, has a decades-long record as an anti-choice legislator, and simply cannot be trusted to stand up for women and families."
