Ray Russell is a man of many occupations; as a former professor, a weather forecaster and a politician, he is a prominent figure of the Boone and greater Watauga community. After taking on multiple careers throughout his life, he is now focusing his work efforts on campaigning for County Commissioner of District 2.

Russell’s political career started in 2016, when he was motivated by President Donald Trump’s election to run for a position in North Carolina. 

“I had no idea where we were headed, but I just knew we just made a huge mistake as a country, and I decided that day I was going to run for something,” Russell said. 

After his campaign, he became a member of the State General Assembly for the 93rd House district from 2019-21.

Alongside his political career, Russell runs RaysWeather.Com, a homegrown weather organization he created in his backyard. What started as a hobby quickly grew into a multi-county weather service that includes around 70 stations. 

Through his service, he became interconnected with the Boone community and, for around 35 years, has called Watauga home. 

“I think that the key issue in Watauga County is who has a right to call this place home,” Russell said.

The main focuses of his campaign are childcare, healthcare, education and the current housing crisis among students, renters and everyday families. 

“The key initiatives have to do with affordable housing, which is about supply of housing; child care, in order to live here and work here, these young families need child care and there’s not enough of it here. And then schools, in particular for the 2nd District, we need to enlarge Parkway School and replace Harden Park School,” Russell said.

In addition to recognizing the housing problem in Boone, Russell is against large data centers in Watauga county as it “would be a disaster if anybody builds a data center here” due to the environmental and noise pollution problems that come with those facilities, Russell said.

District 2 of Watauga county includes around 25% of the student population at App State, Russell said, which is something he is actively fighting to change. During his time as a county commissioner — prior to this election season — Russell fought against Senate Bill 759 and Senate Bill 912, which are connected to the gerrymandering lawsuit he is currently a plaintiff in. 

“Nobody’s fought harder in the last three years for students in this university to have the right to vote than I have,” Russell said.