Chris has served as a strategic advisor to Members of Congress, Republican organizations, state legislators, and elected officials on the county and local level. Beyond partisan politics, Chris has also advised corporations and issue advocacy groups in New Jersey, as well as nationally and internationally.  He recently served as the General Consultant and Lead Strategist to Jack Ciattarelli for NJ Governor.

In terms of state legislative success, nobody has won more races, more consistently, in more difficult terrain than Checkmate Strategies:

• Only Republican firm to flip multiple State Senate and Assembly seats from blue-to-red in New Jersey in the past decade – doing it 2017, 2019 and 2021. 
• Only Republican firm to flip a State Assembly seat in New York State from blue-to-red in 2020, overcoming a 2-to-1 registration deficit and a top of the ticket loss.
• Only Republican mail firm to win every race it was involved in North Carolina in 2020 – winning 5 targeted districts, including two blue-to-red flips.

As an award-winning direct mail consultant, Chris has won over three dozen (and counting) Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) and Reed Awards from Campaigns & Elections Magazine for the firm’s creative work. He also took home the coveted “Rising Star” Award from Campaigns & Elections Magazine in 2008 as one of the Top 25 political professionals under the age of 35.

A 1995 graduate of Temple University, Chris currently serves as a Member of the Political Science Alumni Advisory Board and as a Member of the Owl Club Board of Directors at his alma mater. Chris has consistently been named one of New Jersey’s top Republican consultants in New Jersey and regularly appears as a guest analyst on public affairs and political programs in the state.

Chris lives with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Emma (14) and Alyssa (11), in Jackson, NJ. Together, they founded the Caitlin Elizabeth Russell Foundation in 2006 in honor of their firstborn daughter, who passed away from complications of premature birth at the age of 4 months. Since its inception, Caitlin’s Foundation has raised more than a half-million dollars to help premature babies and their families.