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Heidi Drauschak
Heidi Drauschak (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Virginia State Senate to represent District 35. She lost in the Democratic primary on June 20, 2023.
Drauschak completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Heidi Drauschak was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor's degree from American University in 2014, a law degree from the University of Richmond in 2018, and a graduate degree from the University of Richmond in 2020. Her career experience includes working as a business consultant.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2023
General election
General election for Virginia State Senate District 35
Incumbent Dave Marsden defeated Mark Vafiades in the general election for Virginia State Senate District 35 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dave Marsden (D) | 67.6 | 39,441 |
 | Mark Vafiades (R)  | 32.0 | 18,677 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 198 | ||
| Total votes: 58,316 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Virginia State Senate District 35
Incumbent Dave Marsden defeated Heidi Drauschak in the Democratic primary for Virginia State Senate District 35 on June 20, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dave Marsden | 62.7 | 12,179 |
 | Heidi Drauschak | 37.3 | 7,260 | |
| Total votes: 19,439 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Mark Vafiades advanced from the Republican primary for Virginia State Senate District 35.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Drauschak in this election.
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Heidi Drauschak completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Drauschak's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia to a German immigrant mother and an American father. After attending American University for my undergrad and serving in the Obama White House, I moved to Virginia to attend the University of Richmond, where I earned my law degree and MBA. I then got involved in state government when I founded CrowdLobby - an organization dedicated to giving everyday people access to lobbyists through crowdfunded campaigns - which I still run today as a passion project. I quickly saw how corporate interests were overrunning our government and more needed to be done to give everyday people a seat at the table.
In pursuit of those ideas, I helped found and run a non-partisan good governance organization focused on campaign finance reform, government transparency, and increased citizen engagement in Virginia, all while helping out mission-driven organizations primarily focused on environmental, educational, and anti-corruption measures. After years of being told repeatedly by legislators that the issues I was fighting for were not a priority, I’ve decided that it’s time to seek change from within the legislature itself.- For far too long, corporations and lobbyists have bought votes in our State Legislature. We must fight this corruption, and institute comprehensive campaign finance reform, so that everyday Virginians can set the agenda.
- Climate change will define our generation and must be addressed with the utmost urgency. We must strengthen the laws that protect our environment, so that our families and children have clean air, water, and open spaces.
- We must build a just economy that serves all the residents of the district, not just the wealthiest among us. To do this, we must protect and expand workers’ rights while also taking on the greedy practices of corporations.
I believe the government should be run BY the people, FOR the people. In the current system, politicians are expected to raise massive sums of money to even be considered contenders, which has led to government outcomes weighted heavily in favor of corporations. This influence is only made worse by the largely unregulated influence of corporate lobbyists. As a result, powerful pharmaceutical companies and electric utilities get away with predatory practices that hurt hardworking Virginians.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
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Candidate Virginia State Senate District 35 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 8, 2023
