[2] She wrote Tax and Fairness with Terry Baucher, which was published by Bridget Williams Books in May 2017 and interrogates whether New Zealand can be seen as an egalitarian country.

[7] Russell stood in the central North Island electorate of Rangitīkei at the 2014 election, but was defeated by the incumbent, National's Ian McKelvie.

The New Zealand Herald reported that Russell impressed the party leadership with her performance as a commentator and received support in her bid to be the Labour candidate for the safer Auckland seat of New Lynn in the 2017 election, despite not having a pre-existing connection to the electorate.

The bill was eventually transferred into the name of Marja Lubeck (due to Russell's promotion to a ministerial position) and passed unanimously in June 2023.

[23] As Associate Minister of Justice, she received and announced the resignation of Meng Foon from his position of race relations commissioner over failures to declare conflicts of interests.

[24][25] During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Russell lost the New Lynn electorate to National Party candidate Paulo Garcia by a margin of 1,013 votes.

The bill exempts victims of domestic violence from the mandatory two year period needed to seek a divorce under New Zealand law.

[3] She has advocated for law changes to prevent multinational firms from "unfair[ly]" structuring their New Zealand operations in a way that enables them to minimise their tax bills.

On 22 April 2020, Russell drew media attention and public criticism when she made remarks during a video conference with the Epidemic Response Committee suggesting that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand highlighted a structural weakness in the small business sector.

"[34]Finance Minister Grant Robertson disagreed with her characterisation at the time, and ACT Party leader David Seymour subsequently suggested that these words were unsympathetic to small business.

While many small business advisors and mentors agreed with Russell, she was criticised as being insensitive by left-wing commentator Chris Trotter, journalist Duncan Garner, and National Party MP Judith Collins.