Richard Ojeda

Richard Ojeda grew up in Logan County, West Virginia, with relatives who mined coal, and enlisted in the Army after high school.¹ As a sergeant, he received encouragement from his company commander to pursue the Army's Green to Gold scholarship route to college and becoming an officer.¹ He earned a degree at West Virginia State.²

He spent 24 years in the Army, including deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and retired as a major.² Fifteen years of that career were spent at Fort Bragg.² In Haiti in 2010, he was an 82nd Airborne Division battalion operations officer coordinating street clearance so relief supplies could reach residents.³ After retiring, he returned to West Virginia to be near his parents, then later moved back to North Carolina with his wife and extended family.⁴

In West Virginia, he taught high school JROTC and ran a nonprofit before serving in the state Senate.⁴ He sponsored the 2017 legislation that became the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act.⁵⁶ He also publicly supported teachers during the 2018 statewide strike.¹

Ojeda's current platform prioritizes VA healthcare and pensions, protecting Medicare and Medicaid, higher teacher pay and stronger labor rights.⁷ He supports raising Social Security's taxable earnings cap and opposes increasing the retirement age.⁷ He has also proposed a wealth tax on fortunes above $1 billion.⁴ He challenges Republican incumbent Richard Hudson.⁸⁹