Richard Ojeda

On January 13, 2020, Ojeda announced his campaign for the United States Senate. He will be challenging incumbent Shelley Moore Capito.

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.

Ojeda resigned from the West Virginia Senate on January 14, 2019.

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.

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 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.

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 (a Democrat) if he could rescind his resignation, with the Senate Minority Leader telling Ojeda to talk to the Senate President (a Republican) because that is to whom he sent the resignation letter. The Republican Governor, Jim Justice, seated a lobbyist in Ojeda's vacant seat.

Ojeda dropped out of the race on January 26, 2019, citing his inability to get face time with the networks, and stating one must have access to wealth and power to run for office. He broadcast his withdrawal in an hour-long Facebook live feed.

“I’ve always said that I’m pro-life,” he told WCHS during the campign, “but I also, being someone who almost lost my wife and child during child birth, I think it’s also important in certain circumstances that the mother have the ability to choose her life.”

“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,” Ojeda said in a New Yorker interview. “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.”

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.

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.

On November 6, 2018, Ojeda was defeated in the general election by 12 points, winning 44% of the vote to Carol 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.

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.

Ojeda self-identifies as pro-life but also stated he supports abortion rights and that he would only nominate judges who likewise shared his support for abortion. In 2018, he said regarding the term pro-life, which is used to describe those who are against abortions as, "I’m also calling bullshit on the idea that opposing abortion makes you pro-life...If you just want to keep working class women from making their own decisions, you might be pro-birth but you’re not pro-life." He has also voiced opposition to the Helms Amendment that limits the United States in assistance to abortion through foreign aid, saying, "a woman raped by the Taliban or Boko Haram should not be forced by the callousness of our government to bear her rapist’s child".

During his 2018 congressional campaign, Ojeda praised the Trump administration's plan to roll back environmental regulations of the Obama administration and stated it would benefit the coal industry.

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.

Ojeda was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 2016. He received national attention 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 Shelley Moore Capito in the 2020 election.

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.

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.

However, the state Democratic Party did not field a candidate in the 2016 election or fund any who filed that year. In 2014, incumbent Democratic Rep. U.S. Nick Rahall won 45 percent of the vote when defeated by Evan Jenkins. Rahall had held the seat as a Democrat since 1976, winning by 20 or more points in all but two elections.

Ojeda has been described by some as a populist of the "left-wing variety", and a "staunch progressive". He identifies as a traditional working-class Democrat and laments what he perceives as a Democratic party that is increasingly drifting away from its working-class roots and becoming a party of the elite. In the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, he says he voted for Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He has also been described as a moderate Democrat and he stated that he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. He describes himself as a "conservative on most cultural issues" who supports coal jobs and border security.

In 2016, Ojeda described himself as "pro-life, with exceptions".

In his reasoning for voting for Trump in 2016, Ojeda cited Trump's stance on reducing immigration and limiting the admission of refugees as reasons for his support.

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 because he believed Rahall was not doing enough to advance the interests of the district.

After retiring from the military, Ojeda worked as an Junior ROTC instructor at Chapmanville Regional High School from 2013 to 2017, resigning due to time constraints related to his service as State Senator, now 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, provided meals for the needy, and raised 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 as a guest. Ojeda decided to enter politics while listening to Sen. Manchin discuss disparities in allocation of "manufacturing hubs" to different regions of West Virginia.

Ojeda graduated from Logan High School in 1988. Ojeda earned a bachelor's degree in General Education from West Virginia State University. Also, Ojeda earned a master's degree in Business and Organizational Security from Webster University.

Richard Neece Ojeda II (/oʊ ˈ dʒ ɛ d ə / oh-JED -ə; born October 25, 1970) is an American politician and retired United States Army major who served in the West Virginia Senate representing the 7th district from 2016 until 2019. A Democrat, Ojeda ran a brief campaign for President of the United States in the 2020 election.