Russell H. Diamond (born July 26, 1963) is a far-right
American politician
The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bic ...
and businessman from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Following a string of unsuccessful runs for various offices, he was elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.
It ...
for the 102nd District in 2014.
Business career
Diamond owned Raintree Multimedia, a CD and DVD duplication company based in Annville,
and was later an
over-the-road truck driver employed by Millis Transfer Inc.
[Les Stewart]
Diamond wins contentious 102nd House race
''Lebanon Daily News'' (November 5, 2014).
Political career
Diamond describes himself as a conservative Republican.
His political career has coincided with a shift in the
Pennsylvania Republican Party
The Pennsylvania Republican Party (PAGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the state of Pennsylvania. It is headquartered in Harrisburg.
History
Founding
The party was founded on November 27, 1854, in Towanda ( Bradford County) b ...
further to the
right wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...
.
Political activism and unsuccessful campaigns, 2005-13
![RussDiamondAtRally](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/RussDiamondAtRally.jpg)
In 2005, after the state legislature voted itself a
pay raise, Diamond created PACleanSweep.com, a Web-based
political action committee dedicated to ousting every
incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
legislator in the state.
[Ian Urbina]
A Pennsylvania Spoiler Joins Race for Governor
''The New York Times'' (April 13, 2006). The anti-incumbency movement played a role in the ouster of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme J ...
justice and in the defeat of 17 incumbent state legislators in primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s.
Between 2004 and 2014, Diamond launched six failed campaigns for elected office:
* In 2004, he ran simultaneously for the U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
(from the Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district
Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district is represented by Democrat Conor Lamb. The district encompasses the entirety of Beaver County, a small portion of southwestern Butler County, and all parts of Allegheny County not part of the 18th d ...
) and the state house (for the 101st Legislative District) as a Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
Lists of political part ...
candidate.[Representative in Congress: Election Results: 2004]
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[Representative in the General Assembly: Election Results: 2004]
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was defeated in both races, receiving 1.98%[ and 16.52% of the vote, respectively,][ losing the state House seat to Republican incumbent Mauree Gingrich.][John Latimer]
Activist to take shot at 101st
''Lebanon Daily News'' (2008).
* In 2006, Diamond launched an independent campaign for governor. Diamond abandoned his run when he fell well short of the signature requirements to qualify for the ballot.[ In March 2006, five board members of PACleanSweep, of which Diamond was the chair, resigned after learning that Diamond sought the governorship; the members said that Diamond was trying to co-opt the movement for his own ambition.][ A legal battle in ]Lebanon County
Lebanon County ( Pennsylvania Dutch: Lebanon Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 133,568. Its county seat is the city of Lebanon.
The county was formed from portions of Dauphi ...
court resulted between Diamond and the organization's dissident faction over who had rightful ownership over the group's website and assets and who was the legitimate chairman of the organization.
* In 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, Diamond challenged Republican incumbent Gingrich for the 101st district seat in the Pennsylvania state House.[ The campaign was acrimonious, with Gingrich calling Diamond unfit for office over comments he made regarding police.][ Gingrich won with 64.53% of the vote, Diamond received 22.93%, and Bruce Kreider 12.54%.
* In ]2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, Diamond unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
. Diamond lost, receiving 4.49% of the vote, and seventh place out of a nine-candidate field.
State House career, 2014-present
Elections
In 2014, Diamond successfully ran for the 102nd district to replace Representative RoseMarie Swanger
RoseMarie Swanger (born October 31, 1945) is an American politician and former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 102nd District. A Republican, she was first elected in 2006 and served until 2014.
Early life and edu ...
, who spent four terms in the state House after being backed by Diamond's organization.[ The campaign was contentious; Diamond's supporters filed legal challenges against the campaigns of Joe Eisenhauer and Wanda Bechtold, who sought the Republican nomination, and successfully got their names removed from the primary ballot (due to a failure to timely file financial disclosure forms and a failure to obtain enough signatures, respectively).][ As a result of these challenges, Diamond was the only candidate on the ballot in the May primary, although Bechtold ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign.][ Diamond won the general election with 45 percent of the vote, defeating ]Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Jake Long (who received 26%), independent Robert McAteer (who received almost 23% of the vote), and write-in candidate Bechtold. (Both McAteer and Bechtold indicated that they would serve as Republicans if elected.)[ Diamond won reelection in 2016 with 70% of the vote, won reelection unopposed in 2018,][ and won reelection in 2020 with 70.8% of the vote.
]
Tenure and controversies
COVID-19
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Diamond opposed public-health measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Diamond opposed Governor Tom Wolf
Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...
's statewide mandate requiring the wearing of face coverings in indoor public places (saying that the order promoted "hatred and intolerance across Pennsylvania"), opposed Wolf's closure of non-essential businesses, and called on Wolf to fire Dr. Rachel Levine
Rachel Leland Levine (; born October 28, 1957) is an American pediatrician who has served as the United States assistant secretary for health since March 26, 2021. She is also a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service C ...
, the Pennsylvania secretary of health. Diamond spoke at anti-shutdown rallies at the State Capitol and sponsored a resolution seeking to reverse Wolf's closure of nonessential businesses; the resolution passed the Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...
, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme J ...
ruled that it had no effect.[ In May 2020, Diamond bragged on social media about shopping without a face covering. In July 2020, Diamond mocked a statement against ]discrimination against LGBT people {{broad-concept article
Discrimination against LGBT people includes:
*Discrimination against lesbians
*Discrimination against gay men
*Discrimination against bisexuals
*Discrimination against asexuals
*Discrimination against transgender men
*Discrim ...
issued by Levine, who is transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
, by copying-and-pasting her statement and replacing the term "LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
" with the word "unmasked" to allege discrimination against what he called the "unmasked community" (people who refuse to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic). Governor Tom Wolf
Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...
condemned Diamond's statement and said, "We need the Republicans to stop spreading misinformation to the general public, and we badly need them to be more responsible and more responsive to the health and wellbeing of all Pennsylvanians. This dangerous, reckless behavior is not welcome in Pennsylvania." Wolf called for the legislature to censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spir ...
Diamond over the statement, but the Republican-controlled legislature chose not to do so.[
]
Scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election
On December 4, 2020, John Eastman
John Charles Eastman (born 1960) is an American lawyer who is the founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the conservative think tank Claremont Institute. He is a former profe ...
, a Trump adviser, law professor, and senior member of the conservative legal group, the Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered ...
, emailed to Diamond instructions for an illegal scheme to allow Pennsylvania's legislature to award Pennsylvania's electoral votes to Trump, despite Trump having lost the state by over 80,000 votes. ''Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' published the email in May, 2022. Diamond was one of 26 Pennsylvania House Republicans who called for the state's certification of presidential electors to be withdrawn and supported a resolution calling on Congress to consider Pennsylvania electors to be "in dispute."
The resolution echoed Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's baseless claims of election fraud and his unsuccessful attempt to overturn the election results. Diamond made his call even after litigation brought by Trump's campaign were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Diamond also joined eight other Republican state representatives, led by Daryl Metcalfe
Daryl D. Metcalfe (born November 9, 1962) is an American politician currently serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Metcalfe is a member of the Republican Party and has represented the 12th legislative district since 1999.
Back ...
, who filed a lawsuit asking a Pennsylvania court to invalidate the state's final vote count; this claim was based on debunked conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
and claims that had already been rejected by state and federal courts in earlier litigation. The suit was swiftly dismissed.
In 2019 and 2020, Diamond proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would eliminate statewide elections for state appellate judges (the judges of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme J ...
, Commonwealth Court, and Superior Court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
) would no longer be elected in statewide elections, but would be instead by elected by districts. If adopted, the proposal would tilt the composition of the courts in favor of Republicans. The Republican-controlled General Assembly advanced the proposal for geographic districts for state supreme court districts, on a largely party-line vote, with all Democrats and a few Republicans opposed.
Unsuccessful statewide run
Diamond unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor in 2022. In the May 2022 primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
, he received 5.94% of the vote, carrying only one county (his home county, Lebanon).
Protection from abuse orders and public drunkenness citation
Two women filed for and were granted protection from abuse (PFA) orders against Diamond in 2002 (Diamond's former wife) and 2013 (a woman who lived with and dated Diamond), respectively. Court documents state that one woman claimed Diamond "pushed her in the face seven times and scratched her under an eye" and "threatened to kill her if she disconnected the cable". The second woman to file for a PFA against Diamond told the courts that when she wouldn't leave his apartment, "he knocked her down and dragged her to the doorway." Diamond was later fined $200 for violating the second order. In 2014, members of the Lebanon County Republican Committee sent Diamond a letter asking him to withdraw from the race for House of Representatives, citing his "string of unsuccessful runs for office" and the apparent history of violence evidenced in court documents. Diamond responded by saying that "all is fair in love, war and politics" and "Let's not cherry-pick just to make the other guy look bad." Pennsylvania State Senator David Arnold Jr. (also a member of the Lebanon County Republican Committee) said that Diamond had engaged in a "disturbing pattern of behavior" in which he "admits no culpability and makes light of it." Speaking on the state House floor in 2018, Diamond said that he felt the orders against him were unwarranted and contended that PFA orders were "weaponized"; he voted against a bill that would require persons subject to protective orders and persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
to surrender their guns to police officers, gun dealers, or an attorney.
In fall 2015, Diamond was cited for public drunkenness in Annville Township. He subsequently acknowledged that he is an alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
.
Health
In June 2022, Diamond was diagnosed with "treatable" prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
.
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Russ
1963 births
Living people
Pennsylvania Republicans
Political activists from Pennsylvania
People from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
People from Hershey, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Independents
Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Businesspeople from Pennsylvania
Candidates in the 2014 United States elections
21st-century American politicians
Far-right politicians in the United States