With Election Day in the Arkansas primaries less than a week away, voters will soon have a choice in which candidate they prefer to compete for the state's top position in the November general election.
Throughout this week leading up to Election Day on Tuesday, May 24, KATV is featuring each governor hopeful.
James Russell is one of those candidates. The 49-year-old Louisiana native told KATV he's been living in the Natural State for awhile and that as a kid he would visit his grandparents in Lewisville, Ark.
"I am a transplant, but I grew up in Shreveport, La. and my grandparents lived here in Arkansas," Russell said. "They were down south in Lewisville, so I used to say all the time I had one foot in each state."
According to Russell, his journey into politics sort of fell into his lap.
The Democratic gubernatorial hopeful said his quest towards running for governor started two years ago when he witnessed the George Floyd protests and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
"When I saw the military style response to the protest - it was excessive - and I didn't understand why none of our leaders spoke up and said 'hey, we need to do something different'," Russell said. "We can do security, but we don't have to do it like this."
Russell is a family man with three kids and wife. He said last semester he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Central Arkansas.
According to Russell, his background in healthcare, as a business owner, his passion for people, and being a community advocate qualifies him to be the state's next leader. He believes one characteristic voters are missing in a governor candidate is the ability to admit when they are at fault and relate to the people they serve.
"I'm a human, and again, I think that's part of what we've lost in our leadership is you're a human first - you're a citizen first - that's a relatability issue. People need to see you are still a person," he said.
According to Russell, if elected as governor he would make rebuilding infrastructure, addressing violent crime, and education top priorities.
"When we see the kind of problems we have in our society with the rise in crime - violent crime - just the deterioration of our civil discourse, everything like that, that stems from a lack of education," Russell said. "That people have not learned empathy towards one another. They haven't learned to associate anything that's a different world view from their own."
Russell told KATV that Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made decisions to improve the state but doesn't agree not allowing local businesses to maintain a mask mandate was not a smart move.
"To flightily remove the ability for local systems to protect themselves seemed like it was massive overreach," he said. "Saying that you're going to ban someone from the ability to protect themselves means you don't allow fluidity in a situation."
According to Russell, if his quest to become governor ends after the primary elections, he will continue to show support to the best candidate.
"I know them all at least on a personal level enough to know who I would be ok throwing my support behind or throwing an endorsement behind and who I wouldn't be," Russell said.
Russell told KATV whether he wins or loses the primary election next week, his family will celebrate. He said his youngest child's 25th birthday is the day after Election Day on May 24.