In August 2008, two months after the death of his father, and with two years of experience of hosting a national radio show on SiriusXM, Russert was hired by NBC News as a correspondent covering youth issues as part of its coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

[9] From May 2009 to July 2016, he worked for NBC News on Capitol Hill as a Congressional correspondent covering the House of Representatives.

He made headlines in 2010 when he received a public apology from Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who was at the time serving as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman.

[13] Russert has claimed that the American media can be biased against people of religious faith, going so far as to suggest that it treats them with a certain degree of snark, labeling them as "puritanical" and "not understanding of others or of different viewpoints", which in his view is lazy and contributes to "[feeding] the snickering masses.

[16] On April 20, 2010, he took the role of emcee of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington's annual Congressional dinner, which was renamed after his father.

[17] He has told Politico that, as a sports junkie, he makes sure to watch ESPN's SportsCenter and College GameDay and NBC's Sunday Night Football.

He also told Politico that his favorite watering holes in D.C. are Ireland's Four Fields in Woodley Park because its bartenders "pour a great Guinness, and on any given night you can catch some first-rate live music."