On a recent wet afternoon in North Conway, Russell Prescott, dressed in a tailored blue suit, ducks into a local appliance and propane store.
He shakes hands and then gets a tour from Shane McKinney, the service manager at White Mountain Oil and Propane. McKinney says his business has gone through a rough few years: COVID-19 disruptions, economic ups and down, and now concerns over fighting in the Middle East.
“So it’s hard to gauge margins, it is hard to gauge fuel pricing for people,” McKinney tells Prescott. “It just makes it a pain. But we still plug along.”
McKinney has known Prescott for years, and says he’s been a reliable advocate for small business through his time in state government.
"If you want to get something done and move money up into the Valley, he can do it," McKinney said. "I can attest to that."
Prescott has held seats in the New Hampshire State House stretching back more than two decades, including in the state Senate, where he won tough contests against Democrat Maggie Hassan, who would go on to become governor and U.S. senator. Prescott has also served on the Executive Council. Now, he's aiming for his highest office yet, as the Republican nominee against incumbent Rep. Chris Pappas in the state's 1st Congressional District. As he campaigns in the district that stretches from Manchester to the Seacoast and into the White Mountains, Prescott is hoping his track record of conservative votes and his relatively laid back demeanor will help him where past GOP challengers to Pappas have fallen short.
Read more: Pappas hopes ‘no drama’ formula propels him to 4th term in Congress
Putting his faith in politics
Throughout his political career, Prescott ran his own small business: a water treatment supply company based in Kingston that’s earned him millions. His father founded the company and imparted lessons the 64-year old Prescott still talks about today.
“My father told me in junior high school: 'Make sure you take care of that person that walks in this door, because they may be an angel, and you aren’t aware they’re an angel,' ” Prescott said.
Prescott’s religious faith — the casual mention of angels — is a reflection of his conservative Christian faith, which has long shaped his politics. In the early 2000s, he sponsored legislation opposing gay marriage in New Hampshire. He was also the architect of a parental notification bill for teenagers seeking an abortion.
In an interview, Prescott said his religious beliefs still guide his day-to-day decision making, his attitude — just about everything.
“The oath of office ends with ‘so help me God.’ And that's true: Every day we do need help,” Prescott said.
He said his faith inspires him to “conduct yourself in a manner where you're treating others the way that you would like to be treated, try and do that every single day.”
A gentler appeal to independents
As far as Prescott’s treatment of others goes, it's hard to find any former political colleagues with a bad thing to say about him as a person.
Peterborough Republican Andy Peterson served with Prescott in the state Senate, and said he is a “traditional conservative Republican, but one who has a sense that people have different perspectives and that their feelings and their concerns are important.”
Former Senate President Peter Bragdon, also a Republican, said Prescott showed empathy for fellow lawmakers, and “tries to make sure the human factor is considered.”
In Pappas, Prescott is facing a Democrat who also exudes a calm, friendly style on the campaign trail. Pappas has won three straight elections to Congress, making him the most successful Democrat in decades in a district that has swung between the two parties repeatedly since 2006.
Two years ago, Prescott lost in the GOP primary to Karoline Leavitt, who ran as a MAGA-style culture warrior. Erin Covey, an analyst from the Cook Political Report, says Prescott’s polite, upbeat style could appeal to more independents this year.
“I think someone like Prescott, certainly, [is] probably in a better position than someone like Karoline Leavitt, but he does still have plenty in his record that Democrats can pick apart,” said Covey.
That includes Prescott’s support for Donald Trump, for instance, though he’s never said publicly if he voted for Trump or Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year.
Democrats have also focused on votes that Prescott took in the State House that trimmed some public sector worker benefits, and insurance reforms they say harmed small businesses. His long legislative record opposing abortion rights has also been a target for Democrats looking to peg Prescott as too conservative to represent the district.
‘Keeping your word’
On the same day Prescott toured the propane store, he also swung by a Kennett High School civics class, at the invitation of the teacher. (Pappas spoke to the class the following day.)
There, the students peppered him with questions about housing, the minimum wage, policies towards trans youth, and also, abortion.
“I have three daughters,” Prescott told the class. “ And my daughters, if they wanted to have an abortion, I would make sure that it is safe. I would make sure that I could stay with them, through that whole process, even if I disagreed.”
Disagreement is inevitable in politics, but Prescott was patient with the students, answering nearly an hour of questions. He summed up his campaign for them this way: “The most important thing in all of politics is just to keep your word.”
And in a way, Prescott has been delivering the same words, the same messages, about himself, and what he sees as the best policies for New Hampshire, since he first entered the political scene.
