His book, The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, was published by Oxford University Press. It examines how Christianity changed in order to win the allegiance of the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon peoples. Russell argues that a Christian missionary policy of temporary accommodation of pre-Christian beliefs and customs inadvertently contributed to a reciprocal Germanization of Christianity. He says that since the Second Vatican Council, there has been a conscious effort in the Roman Catholic Church to "shed its predominantly Western, European image". However, Russell notes, "the popularity of Catholic traditionalist movements among persons of European descent suggests that the Germanic elements within Christianity have not lost their appeal".

He is also the author of Breach of Faith: American Churches and the Immigration Crisis.

Jim Russell has run for Congress five times. He ran unsucessfully in the Republican primary for Congress in 1996 (for New York's 19th congressional district), 2004 (for the 18th congressional district), and 2006. In 2008, he received the Republican nomination unopposed and was defeated by incumbent Nita Lowey by a wide margin in the general election.

Russell won the Republican nomination again in 2010, but lost Westchester County and New York State Republican party support in late September after an essay he wrote for The Occidental Quarterly in 2001, which includes comments on race and miscegenation, drew public attention. The county Republican party tried unsuccessfully to find a legal way to remove him from the ballot; it promises to support a write-in candidate. The New York Conservative Party has declined to withdraw its support.

He also founded Westchester-Rockland Citizens for Immigration Control. He is director of the Institute for Western Civilization.

Political and racial views

His political positions include calling for deportation of illegal alien criminals, opposition to the war in Iraq, opposition to a blockade of Iran, opposition to Department of Housing and Urban Development policies that encourage housing integration, and calls for pursuing renewal sources of energy.

In 2002, he addressed a conference sponsored by American Renaissance and the New Century Foundation titled, "What Future for Whites?". In a 2001 essay, The Western Contribution to World History, Russell praised T. S. Eliot's comments about an optimal society: "reasons of raceand culture combine to make any large number of free-thinking Jews undesirable". Russell also stated that "appropriate ethnic boundaries for marriage and socializing" should be taught by parents, and attacked "miscegenationist" films such as "Crazy/Beautiful", "Save the Last Dance", and "O" as "sociobiological warfare" which "appears to deliberately exploit a biological theory of sexual imprinting at the critical period of sexual maturity". The New York Republican party, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and Salon.com's Justin Elliott have called him "racist". Jim Russell has termed the controversy over his views "Nita Lowey’s latest desperate attempt to undermine my campaign" and says that "a few sentences [from 'The Western Contribution to World History'] have been singled out and misinterpreted". Lowey has not spoken publicly about the controversy but her campaign manager said "Mr. Russell’s writings reflect racist and anti-Semitic ideas that have been repudiated across the political spectrum".

Russell earned an A rating from Gun Owners of America.

In response, Russell filed a lawsuit seeking $9,000,000 in damages for defamation. Those named in the lawsuit included the state Republican Party, a number of bloggers and media figures, and an employee of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.