Jen Richardson

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jen Richardson

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 4, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Western Illinois University

Graduate

California Coast University, 2018

Other

Illinois State University

Personal

Birthplace

Lake Forest, Ill.

Profession

Research director

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Jen Richardson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan's 6th Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on August 4, 2020.

Richardson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jen Richardson was raised in Antioch, Illinois. She earned a B.S. in biology from Western Illinois University, a teaching certification from Illinois State University, and an M. Ed. in curriculum and instruction from California Coast University. Richardson began working as the research director at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center in 2018. She previously worked as a science teacher at South Haven High School from 2016 to 2017 and as a science teacher and department chair at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago from 2011 to 2016.

Elections

2020

See also: Michigan's 6th Congressional District election, 2020

Michigan's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 4 Republican primary)

Michigan's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 4 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Michigan District 6

Incumbent Fred Upton defeated Jon Hoadley, Jeff DePoy, John Lawrence, and Jerry Solis in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Fred Upton (R)	55.8	211,496
		Jon Hoadley (D)	40.1	152,085
		Jeff DePoy (L)	2.7	10,399
		John Lawrence (G)	1.2	4,440
		Jerry Solis (Independent) (Write-in)	0.1	560

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 378,980
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Andrew Tidwell (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 6

Jon Hoadley defeated Jen Richardson in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 6 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon Hoadley	52.2	33,976
		Jen Richardson	47.8	31,061

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 65,037
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Aida Gray (D)
• Angelica Pastor-Diaz (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 6

Incumbent Fred Upton defeated Elena Oelke in the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 6 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Fred Upton	62.7	53,495
		Elena Oelke	37.3	31,884

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 85,379
= 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.

Green convention

Green convention for U.S. House Michigan District 6

John Lawrence advanced from the Green convention for U.S. House Michigan District 6 on June 20, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		John Lawrence (G)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 6

Jeff DePoy advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 6 on July 18, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Jeff DePoy (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jen Richardson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Richardson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a part-time teacher of Research Science at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center. My husband Nick and I have two girls, Beatriss (4) and Juniper (2). We live in Kalamazoo and enjoy all of the outdoor activities that SW Michigan has to offer. We often go on family hikes and enjoy camping and going to the beach during the summer months. I have witnessed and experienced how difficult it can be to make ends meet in our district, especially when it comes to finding a job that pays enough to afford childcare and healthcare. We need a representative that understands needs such as these in our community and can bring these needs to Washington without personal political gain and special interests getting in the way. I value all the citizens of the 6th district and believe all people deserve to feel heard and represented, even if their views are different than my own. The best path forward is for us to come together and focus on what unites us, not what divides us. I believe the qualities that I have mastered through teaching and parenting such as listening, engaging, assessing, and empathetic problem solving make me a qualified candidate to be a liaison between our district and Washington.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Faithful Representation: Congress should represent the population whereby most of us are working and middle class, therefore Congress should be too. In addition, representatives should be held accountable to acting in good faith on the will of their constituents.

• Supporting Working People and Families: We can do so much better for our citizens, children, and our parents that are doing their best to make ends meet. This includes easy access to social services, education, healthcare and a healthy environment.

• Fighting Inequality: All people have the right to live freely without fear of violence and to pursue happiness. The government is responsible for eradicating the racism, sexism, and xenophobia that has become ingrained in its systems.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

-Let's work on campaign finance reform. The current system of raising millions of dollars from corporate PACs and the uber wealthy needs to end. Our elected officials should be those from the frontlines of our communities, those that choose to lead out of genuine concern for their neighbors, not those that are the best fundraisers, the best at mingling with the rich, or are wealthy, well-connected political insiders.

-Let's work on providing universal childcare and pre-k. There are many reasons why this makes sense and ways that it benefits everybody, not just families with small children. First, many parents (disproportionately mothers) want to work and contribute to society and the tax base, but cannot because childcare is so expensive that it doesn't make economic sense for them to work. The community misses out on these valuable and skilled citizens. Additionally, there are many children that do not attend high quality preschool (disproportionately low income children) so they do not start off on a level playing field. Universal pre-k will provide the stabilizing equity that our communities so desperately need, which benefits all citizens.
-Let's work on reforming K-12 education so that teachers may treat the whole child and prepare them to be successful in which ever path they choose. This also includes revitalizing the teaching profession.

-Let's work on taking care of our planet and eradicate environmental injustices so that we all have clean water and air.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember Desert Storm when I was in first grade. My uncle was overseas in the Army at the time and my grandparents watched the news coverage on CNN religiously. We tied yellow ribbons on the chainlink fence at my elementary school and drew pictures to send off and cheer up members of the military. I was young, but I was able to sense the seriousness and the sadness of the situation. I have great respect for the lives of those in our military and their families, and will seek to avoid needlessly putting their lives in danger at all costs.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I swept up hair at the Fantastic Sam's salon across the street from my high school when I was 14 years old for about a year. All of the hairstylists there were women, most of them mothers. Their hourly pay from the franchise was next to nothing and I remember the worry and despair when tips weren't great. I also remember learning the "20% off the top" calculation. When planning out how much my paychecks would be, I subtracted 20% for taxes. I still do this today and it is inconceivable to me that billionaires like Jeff Bezos don't have to take "20% off the top" like the rest of us. Let's close those loop holes and make the millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Siddartha by Hermann Hesse. It's a book I have gone back to many times since high school. I seem to gain a new insight each time!

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

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

Coronavirus Weekly Updates Documenting America's Path to Recovery The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Michigan's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Gary Peters (D)

Elissa Slotkin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jack Bergman (R)

District 2

John Moolenaar (R)

District 3

Hillary Scholten (D)

District 4

Bill Huizenga (R)

District 5

Tim Walberg (R)

District 6

Debbie Dingell (D)

District 7

Tom Barrett (R)

District 8

Kristen Rivet (D)

District 9

Lisa McClain (R)

District 10

John James (R)

District 11

Haley Stevens (D)

District 12

Rashida Tlaib (D)

District 13

Shri Thanedar (D)

Democratic Party (8)

Republican Party (7)