Jeff Kitchen
Jeff Kitchen ran in a special election to the Irvine City Council to represent District 1 in California. He lost in the special general election on November 5, 2024.
Kitchen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jeff Kitchen was born in Ashland, Kentucky. He earned a bachelor's degree from Miami University in 1983 and a second bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University in 1986. He earned a graduate degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham in 1990. His career experience includes working as an electrical engineer. He has been affiliated with the Freemasons and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: City elections in Irvine, California (2024)
General election
Special general election for Irvine City Council District 1
Melinda Liu defeated John Park, Michelle Johnson, Jackie Kan, and Jeff Kitchen in the special general election for Irvine City Council District 1 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Melinda Liu (Nonpartisan)  | 32.3 | 5,896 |
 | John Park (Nonpartisan) | 31.7 | 5,787 | |
 | Michelle Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 17.9 | 3,274 | |
 | Jackie Kan (Nonpartisan) | 12.3 | 2,243 | |
 | Jeff Kitchen (Nonpartisan) | 5.8 | 1,050 | |
| Total votes: 18,250 | |||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kitchen in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jeff Kitchen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kitchen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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After High School I attended Miami University earning a Liberal Arts Degree in 1983. I was fortunate to have been able to work as part of the Laborers and Hod Carriers Union during the summers at the Kaiser Steel Facility in Fontana, easily earning enough money to pay tuition. After Miami I decided to pursue a degree in engineering, even Liberal Arts Majors need to eat. I attend Southern Illinois University and studied Electrical Engineering graduating in 1986 I then attended UAB where I earned a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering I went to work with Proctor and Gamble who were in the beginning phase of their infamous diaper wars with Kimberly Clark. I had the privilege of working in P&G’s research facility where we developed very high-speed servo applications that churned out diapers at the rate of 1,000 per minute. The landfills would never be the same.
In 1996 I got the bright idea to throw my had in the ring for the US House of Representatives. I won the Democratic Primary and as my reward I got to face John Boehner in the General Election. In heavily gerrymandered Ohio I did my best to keep him home and successfully managed to get him to debate the issues o- Irvine is being required to plan for the addition of 50,000 Housing units over the next 25 years. I am advocating modernization as part of that process. I am opposed to business as usual, building on or precious open spaces and negatively impacting our quality of life. Establishing viable pathways to ownership is needed, creating yet another generation of renters, forever unable to own a home is not good for our city, state or country.
- Irvine has a very diverse and vibrant economy. Irvine has an excellent public school system. Irvine has a world class university. Irvine has incubators for start-up companies. One thing the city could do to ensure our future is to find ways to get these groups interacting and collaborating. Kids need to be made aware of career opportunities available locally, ones where they can earn enough to live here. Companies need to be more aware of the tremendous talent our schools produce. Established companies and startups benefit from interaction and awareness of each other’s needs. A supportive and proactive city government can be a catalyst to the future our children deserve.
- Technological change is ever increasing. Air Taxis, autonomous vehicles are just two examples of change that is imminent. The current plan put forth by the city seems stuck in the 1970’s. The world of 2050 will be dramatically different than the world of today. People will need EV chargers at their place of employment, they’ll need transportation access to air-taxi facilities. They’ll need structured access to autonomous transportation. All of these things require planning. The current council, with few exceptions seems incapable of acknowledging the changes yet alone planning to adapt and incorporate them. My background, experience and insight provide the skill set needed to address technological change and propose ways to benefit from it
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
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 3, 2024
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