Russell Foster

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Russell Foster

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Sherman, Texas

Profession

IT professional

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Russell Foster (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 4th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Foster completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Russell Foster was born in Sherman, Texas. His career experience includes working as an IT professional and corporate executive.

Elections

2020

See also: Texas' 4th Congressional District election, 2020

Texas' 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

Texas' 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 4

Pat Fallon defeated Russell Foster, Lou Antonelli, and Tracy Jones in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 4 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pat Fallon (R)	75.1	253,837
		Russell Foster (D)	22.6	76,326
		Lou Antonelli (L)	1.9	6,334
		Tracy Jones (Independent) (Write-in)	0.4	1,306

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 337,803
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Ratcliffe (R)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 4

Russell Foster advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 4 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Russell Foster	100.0	24,970

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,970
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 4

Incumbent John Ratcliffe advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 4 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Ratcliffe	100.0	92,373

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 92,373
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 4

Lou Antonelli advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 4 on March 21, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Lou Antonelli (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Russell Foster completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Foster's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Sherman TX. I went to Sherman ISD until 6th grade and then transferred over to Tom Bean ISD until I graduated in 1997. I have worked hard my whole life and have lived paycheck to paycheck most of that time. I am the son of school teachers in the Sherman school district, and have aunts that are teachers as well. I have strong educational ties and love to help and educate people whenever I can. I have been in the IT industry for the last 24 years, and have extensive experience throughout multiple industries thanks to it, the last 11 years I have been working for Texoma Medical Center in the IT department helping thousands of nurses, doctors, and patients get the best help that I can provide.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will fight for Healthcare for All. We all have pre-existing conditions or will someday. We all need proper access to healthcare without going bankrupt or stressing out from unforeseen bills.
• I will fight for better Public Education. We need proper funding for our school systems as well as our Teachers. We need to fix the destruction to our Education system over the last 4 years and get back on track.
• I will fight for Equal Rights and make sure that all rights are restored that have been taken away in the last 4 years and make sure that we can never take the rights away from any citizen no matter what!

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about Healthcare and making sure we lower the costs of healthcare across the board, as well as make sure that everyone has access to healthcare no matter the income range. This includes Dental and Mental healthcare. The only way to be productive citizens is to make sure that we are all strong and healthy and that includes all 3 sides of healthcare. We have millions who are afraid to go see a doctor or go to the ER when they truly need it because they are scared about the bills that come along with it and might not have insurance. We have thousands that die from preventable deaths yearly all because they don't have access to proper healthcare without going bankrupt. We are all 1 step away or know someone who is 1 step away from that brink and talk to them daily and just might not know it. I stayed a week in the hospital in 2018 and was stressed out the entire time wondering about the extra bills. It changed my world and opened up my life to fight for the common person because I struggle and fight right here alongside you. I have been scared for the last 4 years about healthcare for others, and then last year it really hit home and realized that we all have to stand up and try to make a difference or we are all going to continue to be subjects to what the rich think is best for us, and that's asinine to think they are ever going to look out for us.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Strong work Ethics is a key component. Making sure they are there to work for the people and not just there to get a paycheck. We need people that will fight for us, and not looking for his next job in the current administration.

We need officials that spread positive attitudes and stop spreading fear and hatred. We need to come together and work to get America on track again, and stop all the hate filled and fear mongering that is currently plaguing our political system currently. We need officials who are out spreading goodwill and not on Fox News at least 3 times a week spreading hate and fear. We shouldn't live in fear of one another when we have all lived together just fine for decades, this reality show government needs to be canceled and get back to work.

We need dependable government officials who will be there for us in our times of need. We need them at the mass shooting scenes in our districts comforting us instead of going to world series games and clapping along and having a great time with the president that same day. We need officials that hold town halls and actually cares about our district. We need officials that will pick up the phone when constituents call and actually check their voicemail boxes. We need someone who is dependable to us, not dependable to the lobbyists.

We need trustworthy officials who don't lie all the time. We need them to make sure that their resumes are right and claims like prosecuting 300 terrorists are called out for the lies they are. We need people that are not going to spout the talking points that are conspiracy theories that have been debunked for months because again, he's looking for his next job in the private sector or in the administration.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To listen to the constituents and to vote with their heart for what's best for the district and country, and not what's good for their lobbyists bottom lines. We need people that will actually listen to us and truly take it to heart and work to make this district and country a better place any way that we can.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I just hope that someday, someone will say that I did everything I could to make a difference and make both my district and my country better than it was when I first set out. I don't know if I will have a legacy, I just want to help.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was installing Garage doors at at 10 with my father when he ran a garage door company. Was paid $20 a door and was good work. Worked every weekend and all summer long for years. When I turned 16 I went to work at the normal Sherman Texas jobs:

Eddie Macs on Travis,
Lone Star Foods on Travis across from Albertsons
Super K-Mart etc.

All paying minimum wage and no way it was a livable wage, but i was 16-18 at the time. During that time I had a wonderful uncle named David who worked as a computer repairman in the 90's, and I would sit at his house and learned how to put a computer together, and used his phone line and computer to learn how to program websites and by the time I was out of high school I had a job lined up working for ImOutdoors.com which at the time was just starting out with two partners and myself doing the programming. I made them the first outdoor only search engine/directory, helped build a database of over 250,000 outdoor websites, and helped work to build the first fantasy fishing game which was sold to ESPN Outdoors and partnered with them to become their online search provider for their website at the time. We even started hosting and creating websites by the time I left the company.

I went on to work as head developer for West Asset management directly after that for 3 years, and helped build the back-end of a lot of their collection agency at the time. I got burned out on programming after that and ended up doing IT Tech work after that.

I went to work with companies like Texas Star Bank, Hoyte Dodge, Whitesboro ISD, and for the last 11 years have been working in the IT Department of Texoma Medical Center where I love to help as many people I can.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Living paycheck to paycheck and paying increasingly larger bills while still making the same amount.

Living with pre-existing conditions and wondering if I lose my job will i survive without that insurance?

Living with a rare condition that makes some everyday activities a struggle, and knowing millions are having the same or worse issues than me and worry as much or even more than I do right now.

Living in today's age where our regulations are getting cut and climate change is increasing rapidly, how can we tell our grandkids that we let it happen?

Living in this district where we are losing more and more rural medical services and scared thinking about my constituents losing their lives because they have to travel so far now just to get emergency care because there isn't anywhere open left in their county. All of this is preventable, we just have to fix our healthcare system together.

There are so many struggles that we all live with day to day, that most of the people in congress have never had to struggle with and don't have a clue about. It's time we had people helping us and not the rich and powerful.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

That it should be a representation of the People, and not the corporate interests that it is currently. We need to get back to being represented by the common person, and not the rich and powerful. We need to take the money out of politics and get back to true representation. When the majority of congress are millionaires, we can't really believe they are looking out for those of us who are making $37k a year and living paycheck to paycheck. They have never had a hard day in their life in most cases, and it's time we take back our government for us. We need proper representation, and I promise to represent all of us in our district.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Healthcare is the biggest issue we have as a nation. The costs continue to rise, and lobbyists have bought our politicians to where they won't fight for normal people like myself and we are sick of it. We have seen life saving medicine prices increase to a point where people are deciding to eat or be able to take their medications.

We have watched our rural hospitals leave our area over the last 4 years, and now we have citizens that are losing their lives because they have to travel by ambulance over an hour to the nearest hospital because theirs has closed. We have people all over this district afraid to even go to the doctor because they can't afford it, and afraid to go to the ER when they have actual emergencies because they don't want to go bankrupt. We have people stressed out because of medical bills that should cost 10x less than they currently do.

Because of my 2018 hospital stay and the diagnosis for Alpha 1, I realized I don't know how much time I have left. Everyday is truly a blessing. I knew I had to try my best to fight for not only my brothers & family but for everyone's brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, everyone has someone that has a pre-existing condition or a condition that are one hospital stay or ER visit away from being broke. Those that stay with jobs they are in now because they are dependent on the insurance to live and would likely die if they lost that job.

We are all 1 step away or know someone who is 1 step away from that brink and talk to them daily and just might not know it. That is why I changed my world and opened up my life to fight for the common person because I struggle and fight right here alongside you. I have been scared for the last 4 years about healthcare for others, and then in 2018 it really hit me and realized that we all have to stand up and try to make a difference or we are all going to continue to be subjects to what the rich think is best for us, and that's asinine to think they care.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Education and Labor;

Ethics;
Oversight and Reform;
Science, Space, and Technology;
Transportation and Infrastructure;

Veterans' Affairs;

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

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External links

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• Campaign website

Footnotes

[show]

Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Cornyn (R)

Ted Cruz (R)

Representatives

District 1

Nathaniel Moran (R)

District 2

Daniel Crenshaw (R)

District 3

Keith Self (R)

District 4

Pat Fallon (R)

District 5

Lance Gooden (R)

District 6

Jake Ellzey (R)

District 7

Lizzie Fletcher (D)

District 8

Morgan Luttrell (R)

District 9

Al Green (D)

District 10

Michael McCaul (R)

District 11

August Pfluger (R)

District 12

Craig Goldman (R)

District 13

Ronny Jackson (R)

District 14

Randy Weber (R)

District 15

Monica De La Cruz (R)

District 16

Veronica Escobar (D)

District 17

Pete Sessions (R)

District 18

Vacant

District 19

Jodey Arrington (R)

District 20

Joaquin Castro (D)

District 21

Chip Roy (R)

District 22

Troy Nehls (R)

District 23

Tony Gonzales (R)

District 24

Beth Van Duyne (R)

District 25

Roger Williams (R)

District 26

Brandon Gill (R)

District 27

Michael Cloud (R)

District 28

Henry Cuellar (D)

District 29

Sylvia Garcia (D)

District 30

Jasmine Crockett (D)

District 31

John Carter (R)

District 32

Julie Johnson (D)

District 33

Marc Veasey (D)

District 34

Vicente Gonzalez (D)

District 35

Greg Casar (D)

District 36

Brian Babin (R)

District 37

Lloyd Doggett (D)

District 38

Wesley Hunt (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (12)

Vacancies (1)