the practice of law with his father's Boston firm, Russell & Russell, which also included his brother and uncle. He entered politics in 1881, winning election to the Cambridge common council by a single vote, on a write-in "sticker campaign" started by friends without his knowledge. He was elected to the board of aldermen in 1883 and 1884. Mayor of Cambridge Russell served as Mayor of Cambridge for four 1-year terms from 1885 to 1888, being reelected with no opposition at least twice, running on non-party tickets. When he took office, the city treasury was virtually empty, and it was saddled with a high tax rate. In his first year in office, Russell balanced the budget, funded the city's debt, and paid off its outstanding bills. He adopted the slogan "pay as you go" to exemplify his approach to city finances. During his tenure, he oversaw improvements in wide array of city services, include streets, sewers, fire, police, and health. Charles Eliot Norton opined that Cambridge was then the best-run city in the state. Although Russell was personally opposed to the prohibition of alcohol, the city voted in 1886 to become dry, and he won favorable notice for enforcing the ban despite his opposition to it. He received mixed reviews for labor-related actions. In 1886, he successfully settled a meatpackers' strike, but in a February 1887 strike by the local horse railway, he called out the police to support strikebreakers, and (after two instances of violence) called out the militia to maintain order until the strike was broken. While in office, Russell solicited sizable donations from philanthropist Frederick Hastings Rindge (a Harvard classmate) which made possible the construction of Cambridge City Hall, a Manual Training School (now Cambridge Rindge and Latin School), and Cambridge's public library. These were the first large-scale philanthropic gifts the city had received. Russell's efficient administration as mayor, particularly in the enforcement of the liquor ban, and his effective campaign speeches during the Presidential campaign of 1884 made him a prominent figure in state politics. Governor of Massachusetts In 1886, Russell declined a party effort to recruit him has a candidate for the U.S. Congress. He twice ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 1888 and 1889, defeated by Oliver Ames and John Quincy Adams Brackett. He finally won the governorship in 1890 in a rematch of the 1889 contest with Brackett. The 1890 victory was