He was the first burgess of Bedford Borough in the years 1818 and 1819 and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1837.[citation needed]
Russell was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Black. His opponent, according to the Daily Atlas, was "Mr. Philson of Somerset".[1] He was not a candidate for renomination in 1842.
He resumed the practice of law, and served as trustee of the Bedford Academy and secretary of the Chambersburg & Bedford Turnpike Company. He died in Bedford in 1870. Interment in Bedford Cemetery.