Richard Ojeda facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Richard Ojeda
Member of the West Virginia Senate from the 7th district
In office January 11, 2017 – January 9, 2019
Preceded by	Art Kirkendoll
Succeeded by	Paul Hardesty
Personal details
Born	(1970-10-25) October 25, 1970 (age 54) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Kelly Ojeda
Children	3
Education	West Virginia State University (BA) Webster University (MBA)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1989–2014
Rank	Major
Unit	10th Mountain Division 20th Engineer Brigade
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan Iraq War
Awards	Bronze Star Medal (2) Full list Meritorious Service Medal (2) Army Commendation Medal (7) Army Achievement Medal (5) Good Conduct Medal National Defense Service Medal Afghanistan Campaign Medal Iraq Campaign Medal GWOT Expeditionary Medal GWOT Service Medal Korea Defense Service Medal Armed Forces Service Medal Humanitarian Service Medal Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal Army NCO PD Ribbon Army Service Ribbon Overseas Service Ribbon (4) NATO Medal Valorous Unit Award Meritorious Unit Commendation (4) Superior Unit Award Combat Action Badge Master Parachutist Badge Air Assault Badge Bronze De Fleury Medal Sapper Tab Canadian, Venezuelan, German, Chilean, Kuwaiti, Egyptian and Pakistani parachutist badges German Schützenschnur (Bronze)

Richard Neece Ojeda II (born October 25, 1970) is an American politician. He is also a retired U.S. Army Major. A Major is a mid-level officer rank in the military. He served in the West Virginia Senate for the 7th district from 2017 to 2019. The West Virginia Senate is part of the state's government that makes laws.

Ojeda is a member of the Democratic Party. He briefly ran for President of the United States in the 2020 election. He grew up in Logan, West Virginia. He went to West Virginia State University and Webster University. He first joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier. Later, he became an officer after finishing college. During his 25 years in the military, Ojeda earned two Bronze Star Medals. These medals are given for bravery or good service. After leaving the military, he taught in a program called Junior ROTC before becoming a politician.

Ojeda was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 2016. In 2018, he announced he would run for president in 2020. However, he stopped his campaign in January 2019. In 2020, he tried to become a U.S. Senator but did not win the primary election.

Early Life and Education

Richard Ojeda was born in Rochester, Minnesota. His parents were Florena and Richard N. Ojeda. He grew up in a family that supported the Democratic Party.

Ojeda's grandfather came to West Virginia from Mexico. He came during a time when many people moved there to work in coal mines. He later became a U.S. citizen. Ojeda's father was born in the U.S. and worked as a nurse anesthetist. Ojeda also has Italian family roots.

Ojeda finished high school at Logan High School in 1988. He earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia State University. He later got a master's degree from Webster University.

Military Service and Teaching Career

Ojeda (left) in Haiti in 2010, helping with relief efforts after the 2010 earthquake

Richard Ojeda served 25 years in the United States Army. He started as an enlisted soldier. Then he went through officer training and became a Major. He earned two Bronze Stars for his service. During his time in the military, he served in many countries. These included South Korea, Honduras, Jordan, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He was part of the 20th Engineer Brigade.

After retiring from the military in 2013, Ojeda taught at Chapmanville Regional High School. He was a Junior ROTC instructor until 2017. Junior ROTC is a program that teaches high school students about military values and leadership. He also helped start a Junior ROTC program at another local high school.

Ojeda also created a non-profit organization called Logan Empowerment Action and Development. A non-profit group works to help the community without making money. His group organized community cleanups and Christmas toy drives. They also provided meals for people in need and raised money for shoes for kids.

Ojeda started writing letters to the editor of the Logan Banner, a local newspaper. Because of his letters, Senator Joe Manchin invited him to the 2013 State of the Union address. This is a speech given by the U.S. President. Ojeda decided to get into politics after hearing about how different parts of West Virginia were treated unfairly.

Political Career

Ojeda first entered politics in 2014. He ran for Congress in West Virginia's 3rd District. He lost that election but gained 34% of the votes. He believed the person already in office was not doing enough for the district.

Serving in the West Virginia Senate

In May 2016, Ojeda was attacked during a campaign event. Despite this, he won the Democratic primary election for the 7th District of the West Virginia Senate. He defeated the person who was already holding the office, Art Kirkendoll. In the main election in November 2016, he won against Republican Jordan Bridges by a large margin.

While in the Senate, Ojeda pushed for higher wages for teachers. He argued that low pay could cause teachers to go on strike or leave the state. In January 2018, he said that Governor Jim Justice's plan for a small pay raise for teachers was not enough.

Ojeda supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. He said he voted for Trump because he thought Trump would help the people of West Virginia. He also supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary election in 2016.

Ojeda left the West Virginia Senate on January 14, 2019. He said he was frustrated with how slowly things moved in the legislature. He felt he could not achieve all his goals.

Supporting Teacher Strikes

Ojeda became well-known for supporting the 2018 West Virginia teachers' strike. A month before the strike, he gave a speech in the Senate. He asked other lawmakers to listen to teachers' concerns to avoid a strike. He then introduced bills to help public employees with healthcare and higher wages. He also wanted to give teachers tax breaks for classroom supplies.

Because he strongly supported the strikes, many teachers and union members saw him as a "folk hero." People often cheered his name when he spoke around the state.

Ojeda also traveled to California to support the 2019 Los Angeles teachers' strike. He wrote an article in The Intercept newspaper. In it, he encouraged the teachers by saying, "Don’t make us go West Virginia on you."

Running for U.S. House in 2018

Ojeda ran for a seat in the U.S. House from West Virginia's 3rd congressional district. The seat was open because the Republican, Evan Jenkins, decided to run for the U.S. Senate instead. Ojeda's campaign was run by local people. Many of them worked without pay and had other jobs.

Ojeda said his campaign only accepted money from individual people and labor unions. He won the Democratic primary election on May 9, 2018. He defeated Shirley Love, Janice Hagerman, and Paul Davis.

The website Salon.com said that Ojeda's election was important. They called it a "bellwether," meaning it could show how other elections might go. This was because he had won his state Senate election by a lot, even though his district strongly supported Trump. This showed he could get votes from Trump supporters.

During his campaign, Ojeda was interviewed for a documentary film. His opponent, Carol Miller, used some of his comments to question his patriotism. Ojeda disagreed with Miller's criticism in his own campaign ad. He also appeared on an online show to talk about his economic ideas.

As the election got closer, polls showed it would be a close race. President Trump came to West Virginia to campaign for Miller. Trump made fun of Ojeda's name during his speeches.

On November 6, 2018, Ojeda lost the election to Carol Miller. He received 44% of the votes, while Miller got 56%. Even though he lost, this was a much better result for a Democrat in that district than in the previous election.

2020 Presidential Campaign

In November 2018, Ojeda officially became a candidate for President of the United States. He announced his campaign on November 11 at a rally in Kentucky. Many union members attended the rally. His campaign focused on stopping corruption in government. He also wanted to bring the Democratic Party back to helping working-class people. Since he was a state legislator, he was seen as an "underdog" candidate.

He left the West Virginia Senate on January 9, 2019, to focus on his presidential campaign. A few days later, he asked if he could take back his resignation. However, his seat was given to someone else by the Republican Governor, Jim Justice.

Ojeda stopped his presidential campaign on January 26, 2019. He said he could not get enough attention from news networks. He also stated that a person needs a lot of money and power to run for president. He announced his decision in a long video on Facebook.

2020 Senate Campaign

On January 13, 2020, Ojeda announced he would run for the United States Senate. He hoped to challenge the person currently holding the office, Shelley Moore Capito. On June 9, 2020, Ojeda lost the primary election. He received 33% of the votes, while Paula Jean Swearengin won with 38%. On the night of the primary, Ojeda publicly accepted his loss. He also supported Swearengin as the Democratic Party's choice for the general election. He hinted that his time in politics might not be over.

Political Views

General Political Beliefs

Some people describe Ojeda as a "populist" who supports the working class. He also identifies as a "progressive." He sees himself as a traditional working-class Democrat. He believes the Democratic Party has moved away from its roots and now focuses more on wealthy people. In the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, he said he voted for Senator Bernie Sanders.

He has also been called a "moderate Democrat." He stated that he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. He later said he regretted this decision. He describes himself as "conservative on most cultural issues." He supports coal jobs and wants strong border security.

Taxes

Ojeda was one of the few lawmakers in West Virginia who openly supported raising taxes. He wanted higher taxes on large companies and wealthy people. He especially wanted to tax coal and gas companies. He believed this would help pay for public services that had lost funding.

Labor Rights

Ojeda strongly supports labor unions. Unions are groups that protect workers' rights. He has received money from several unions, including the American Federation of Teachers and the Teamsters' Union. Ojeda is against "right-to-work" laws. These laws make it harder for unions to organize and collect fees from workers.

Gun Control

Ojeda has been described as supporting gun rights. He has said he agrees that more mental health services could help reduce gun violence. He believes his views on guns are similar to those of Carol Miller. He supports the Second Amendment, which protects the right to own guns. He does not think more restrictions are needed.

He has also called for stronger gun restrictions after several mass shootings. These events caused many deaths.

Foreign Policy

On his Twitter account, Ojeda has posted messages against Saudi Arabia. He opposes their involvement in the conflict in Yemen. He believes the U.S. should stop supporting Saudi Arabia and end arms deals with them. He also criticized Saudi Arabia for its alleged role in the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

Regarding Iran, Ojeda has stated that he would not support a war with that country.

Healthcare

Ojeda supports a healthcare system called Medicare for All. This system would provide healthcare for all Americans through a single government program. He also believes that members of Congress and the president should not be allowed to have extra health insurance. Instead, they should use the same standard healthcare available to all citizens. He thinks this would encourage them to improve healthcare for everyone.

Environment

Ojeda has called for using sustainable energy. This means using energy sources that do not run out and do not harm the environment. He supports a plan called the Green New Deal.

Ojeda has said that he sees a limited future for coal mining. He knows that coal is "not gonna come back." He wants to find ways for miners to get other good-paying jobs.

During his 2018 campaign for Congress, Ojeda praised the Trump administration's plan. This plan aimed to reduce environmental rules from the previous administration. Ojeda believed this would help the coal industry.

He stated, "President Trump promised West Virginia to help put our coal miners back to work, and in many places our coal miners are working again. This will help West Virginia. This will help coal mining families."

Immigration

Ojeda supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This program protects young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. He also supports a way for "Dreamers" to become citizens.

When explaining why he voted for Trump in 2016, Ojeda mentioned Trump's views on reducing immigration. He also liked Trump's stance on limiting the number of refugees.

Ojeda said, "When you hear about illegal aliens getting benefits and you have people here starving to death and can’t get nothing, it’s just a slap in the face. When you start talking about bringing in refugees and when they get here they get medical and dental and they get set up with some funds—what do we get? So when people hear Donald Trump saying we’re going to take benefits away from people who come here illegally and give them to people who work, that sounds pretty good."

Campaign Finance and Ethics

Ojeda's campaign focused on "lobbying and corruption in Washington." Lobbying is when groups try to influence politicians. He has suggested ways to improve political ethics.

Ojeda has proposed that lobbyists should wear body cameras. This would make government more open and allow the public to see what happens. He supports Wolf PAC, a group that works to end corruption in politics. He has promised not to take donations from large corporations for his campaigns.

Ojeda has also suggested that elected officials and Cabinet members should donate any money they earn over one million dollars to charity. This would prevent them from using their political jobs to get rich. He also proposed that after leaving public office, these officials should have a limit on how much money they can earn each year.

Ojeda has called for "donor vouchers." These would be small amounts of money given to individual voters. Voters could then donate this money to the candidate they choose. This would give ordinary people more power in elections.

Electoral History