Richard Ojeda
Richard Neece Ojeda II is an American politician and retired United States Army major who served in the West Virginia Senate representing the 7th district from January 2017 until January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran a brief campaign for President of the United States in the 2020 election.
Raised in Logan, West Virginia, Ojeda graduated from West Virginia State University and Webster University. He initially joined the United States Army as an enlisted soldier and went through officer training after finishing college. During his 25 years in the military, Ojeda earned two Bronze Star Medals and rose to the rank of major. After retiring, he initially worked as a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps teacher before running for office.
Ojeda was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 2016. He received national attention during his 2018 campaign for the United States House of Representatives, when he became a vocal supporter of the 2018 teachers' strike and advocated for the legalization of cannabis in West Virginia. In November 2018, Ojeda announced his candidacy for president in the 2020 election, but he dropped out in January 2019 when his campaign failed to gain traction. In January 2020, Ojeda announced he would instead challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito in the 2020 election, but he failed to secure the Democratic nomination in the primary. He has since moved to North Carolina announced a run for North Carolina's 9th congressional district in the 2026 election.
Early life and education
Ojeda was born in Rochester, Minnesota, the son of Florena and Richard N. Ojeda. He was born into a Democratic family and he registered as a Democrat. He remarked that "back when I was in high school, being a Republican was like cursing". Ojeda's paternal grandfather, Senon H. Ojeda, was an immigrant from the Mexican state of Jalisco who came to West Virginia during the coal boom to try and make a living, and later gained citizenship. One of Ojeda's grandparents died in a mining accident after fighting in World War II. Ojeda's father was born in the United States, but moved to Mexico and lived there until the age of eight. Ojeda's father worked as a nurse anaesthetist. Ojeda also has Italian ancestry.Ojeda graduated from Logan High School in 1988. He earned a bachelor's degree in General Education from West Virginia State University and a master's degree in Business and Organizational Security from Webster University.
Military service and teaching career
Ojeda said "Where I come from, when you graduate high school, there’s only three choices—dig coal, sell dope, or join the Army. And I chose the military". He served 25 years in the United States Army, starting as an enlisted soldier before going through officer training and rising to the rank of major. He earned two Bronze Stars. During his service, he spent time in South Korea, Honduras, Jordan, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq, where he was attached to the 20th Engineer Brigade.After retiring from the military, Ojeda worked as a Junior ROTC instructor at Chapmanville Regional High School from 2013 to 2017, resigning due to time constraints related to his service as state senator, in addition with his run for Congress. He helped start a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps at a local high school. He established a social services nonprofit, the Logan Empowerment Action and Development, which engaged in community cleanup, Christmas toy drives, providing meals for the needy, and raising money for shoes for kids. During this time, Ojeda also started penning letters to the editor of the Logan Banner. As a result, Ojeda was invited by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to the 2013 State of the Union address as a guest. Ojeda decided to enter politics while listening to Manchin discuss disparities in allocation of "manufacturing hubs" to different regions of West Virginia.
Political career
Ojeda entered politics in 2014, running for Congress in West Virginia's 3rd District. He garnered 34% of the vote in the Democratic primary, losing to incumbent Nick Rahall, whom Ojeda challenged on the grounds that the incumbent was not doing enough to advance the interests of the district.West Virginia Senate
Ojeda was assaulted at a primary campaign event on May 8, 2016, in Logan County, West Virginia. The assailant, Jonathan S. Porter, who had ties to Ojeda's opponent, received 1–5 years in prison, and a $500 fine as a part of a plea deal. Ojeda went on to win the Democratic primary for the 7th District of the West Virginia Senate, defeating incumbent Art Kirkendoll. In the general election, held on November 8, 2016, he defeated Republican Jordan Bridges by almost 18 points.In the West Virginia Senate, Ojeda sponsored the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, legislation to legalize medical marijuana, which was signed into law by Governor Jim Justice on April 19, 2017.
In the Senate, he called for increases in teacher wages, arguing that low pay would lead to strikes and teachers leaving the state. In January 2018, he criticized West Virginia Governor Jim Justice's proposed 1–2% increase in teacher wages, saying it was insufficient.
Ojeda has stated "I don't think I've ever voted for a Democrat for president" and supported Donald Trump in 2016. He told Politico that he voted for Trump because he initially believed Trump would do something for West Virginians. By 2018, he expressed regret for voting for Trump, saying that "he hasn't done shit" and he is "taking care of the daggone people he's supposed to be getting rid of". Ojeda said he supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary.
Ojeda resigned from the West Virginia Senate on January 14, 2019, citing frustration with the legislature's slow pace and his inability to accomplish all his legislative goals.
Teacher strikes
Ojeda rose to prominence for his early support of and leading role in the 2018 West Virginia teachers' strike. A month before the strike, Ojeda, in a speech on the Senate floor, called on his fellow legislators to heed the complaints and requests of teachers lest a strike be inevitable. He then introduced several bills, including ones addressing public employees' healthcare needs, raising their wages, and giving teachers tax deductions on purchased classroom supplies. Due to his active and vocal support of the strikes, Ojeda was said by some to have attained something of a "folk hero" status with teachers and other unionists. He was regularly met by chants of his last name and other expressions of appreciation and commendation while traveling the state to speak out in support of the strikers.Ojeda traveled to California to support the 2019 Los Angeles teachers' strike, proclaiming "Don’t make us go West Virginia on you" in an op-ed published in The Intercept.
2018 U.S. House campaign in West Virginia
Ojeda ran for West Virginia's 3rd congressional district, a seat which was vacated by Republican Evan Jenkins, who filed instead to run in the primary for the U.S. Senate. His campaign was staffed in part by local residents who were working on the campaign without pay, and held private jobs while working on the campaign.According to Ojeda, his campaign only accepted donations from individual donors and labor unions. He won the Democratic primary on May 9, 2018, defeating Shirley Love, Janice Hagerman, and Paul Davis.
The web publication Salon.com said that Ojeda's race was a potential bellwether due to the perceived alienation of a significant part of the electorate that supported Trump's candidacy, noting that "Ojeda is no stranger to converting Trump supporters: He won his state Senate election by 18 points, in a district Trump carried by 59."
During the campaign, Ojeda agreed to an interview for Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9. Ojeda's off the cuff unpolished pronouncements subsequently appeared in the trailer for the movie; "I’m sick and tired of people telling me America is the greatest country—because we can whip your ass?", and "I don’t give a shit who you are. I’ll fight you in the damn street right now". The comments were used by opponent Carol Miller's campaign to bring under question Ojeda's patriotism while labeling him as unhinged. Ojeda took issue with Miller's criticism in a campaign ad. Ojeda also made an appearance on The Young Turks interview show Rebel HQ, where he discussed his economic policies.
As the polling began to indicate a tight race, President Trump traveled to West Virginia in October to campaign for Miller. On the stump, Trump mocked Ojeda while making a point of pronouncing Ojeda's last name while affecting an Hispanic accent.
On November 6, 2018, Ojeda was defeated in the general election by 12 points, winning 44% of the vote to Miller's 56%. For Democrats, this was a 32-point improvement in performance from the previous election, where the Democrat won only 24% to the Republican's 68%. According to FiveThirtyEight, Ojeda outperformed his district's partisan lean by 25%, the strongest showing for a non-incumbent.
2020 presidential campaign
In November 2018, Ojeda filed with the Federal Election Commission, officially becoming a candidate for President of the United States. His campaign was announced on November 11, at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky, which consisted mostly of union members. His campaign focuses included ending government corruption and returning the Democratic Party to a party that benefited the working class. As no incumbent state legislator has ever mounted a serious bid for the presidency, Ojeda was considered a "longshot" and "underdog" candidate.He resigned from the West Virginia Senate on January 9, 2019, to focus on his presidential bid. A few days after, Ojeda asked the Senate Minority Leader if he could rescind his resignation, with the Senate Minority Leader telling Ojeda to talk to the Senate President because that is to whom he sent the resignation letter. The Republican governor, Jim Justice, seated lobbyist Paul Hardesty in Ojeda's vacant seat. Ojeda dropped out of the race on January 26, 2019.