Richard Ojeda, Democrat who once backed Trump, is running for president


The midterms are over, and one Democrat is looking to put his losing congressional bid behind him — by announcing his campaign for president.
West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda (D), an Army veteran who's been described as "JFK with tattoos," filed documents to run for president on Sunday, Politico reports. Ojeda confirmed his candidacy in an email to supporters on Sunday and in an interview with The Intercept.
During the 2016 presidential race, Ojeda announced he'd vote for President Trump because he saw Hillary Clinton as a Democratic elitist, he later told The Intercept. He later retracted that support over Trump's zero tolerance policy that separated migrant families, and opposed the president as he ran against Republican Carol Miller for a West Virginia congressional seat this year. The district backed Trump by a 49-point margin in 2016, but Ojeda lost the seat by just 13 points and polls showed him beating Miller at one point.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ojeda will take a firmly populist approach to his presidential campaign, he told The Intercept, commenting that the Democratic Party "is supposed to be the party that fights for the working class." He'll focus on fighting corruption and uniting workers to build a base of support, branding himself as "a working-class person that basically can relate to the people on the ground," Ojeda said.
Ojeda is expected to expand on his presidential aspirations in a speech Monday at noon. Read more about his campaign at The Intercept.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies