Michael Fletcher (Ohio)
From Ballotpedia
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Michael Fletcher (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio's 12th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 3, 2022.
Biography
Michael Fletcher was born in Athens, Ohio. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University in 1980. Fletcher's career experience includes working in real estate, retirement planning, securities, and sales, and as a main frame computer operator and floor mechanic. Fletcher has been affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America as an assistant scoutmaster.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Ohio's 12th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Ohio District 12
Incumbent Troy Balderson defeated Amy Rippel-Elton in the general election for U.S. House Ohio District 12 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Troy Balderson (R) | 69.3 | 191,344 |
Amy Rippel-Elton (D)  | 30.7 | 84,893 | ||
| Total votes: 276,237 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 12
Amy Rippel-Elton defeated Michael Fletcher in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 12 on May 3, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Amy Rippel-Elton | 56.7 | 12,712 | |
 | Michael Fletcher | 43.3 | 9,717 | |
| Total votes: 22,429 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Alaina Shearer (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 12
Incumbent Troy Balderson defeated Brandon Lape in the Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 12 on May 3, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Troy Balderson | 82.3 | 66,181 |
 | Brandon Lape | 17.7 | 14,196 | |
| Total votes: 80,377 | |||
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2020
See also: Ohio State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Ohio State Senate District 30
Incumbent Frank Hoagland defeated Michael Fletcher in the general election for Ohio State Senate District 30 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Frank Hoagland (R) | 66.8 | 110,243 |
| Michael Fletcher (D) | 33.2 | 54,694 | |
| Total votes: 164,937 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Ohio State Senate District 30
Michael Fletcher advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio State Senate District 30 on April 28, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Fletcher | 100.0 | 19,731 |
| Total votes: 19,731 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Ohio State Senate District 30
Incumbent Frank Hoagland advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio State Senate District 30 on April 28, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Frank Hoagland | 100.0 | 24,726 |
| Total votes: 24,726 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Fletcher did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Michael Fletcher completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fletcher'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'm a guy from South East Ohio, an old Scout who still lives by the oaths; God and Country first, service to others, and do a good turn daily. I grew up in a divided country with one foot in town and one in the country at my dad's farm and then I headed for the woods as a Scout. My career has been as an appraiser, financial consultant, real estate sales and EMT have prepared me for this role. I am a perpetual student, and the habit of reading everything has helped prepared me to address the diversity of issues faced in the legislature. I am socially liberal and economically conservative. There is a lot we should do, but we have to have more open and honest conversations about how we intend to do it. There is a cost to both, what we do and what we do not do. I'm an old school conservationist, pragmatic about the cost of our choices. We can and should leave this place better for the next generation even as we work hard for our families today. Americans have much in common to work for and we have always strived to be better than our past. Working together we can do better!
- We are more alike than different and by working together we can do better.
- State government should be about serving the public and our key issues today are education, infrastructure and healthcare.
- State government has a duty to demand that their actions best serves the public interest.
I am not a single-issue candidate. My expertise is real estate, and I have some knowledge of many subjects because I read everything. I want to help build more focus on rebuilding the public education system and our community infrastructure. I also think Ohio can better address the health care needs of our citizens. All these amounts to restoring some economic vitality, which in rural Ohio is often unsatisfactory.
We need a new and constitutionally legal funding plan for public education, which a Republican-dominated legislature has denied for over two decades. We need to let teachers teach again. We need to fund our secondary education network and hold them accountable for their spending decisions. We should return monies to local governments for local infrastructure and essential services. We need a high-speed internet for every community. We need cost controls on the pharmaceutical industry. Profits for the business should not mean gouging the public. Let's amend or end the Ohio Medicaid Recovery program, which amounts to a 100% inheritance tax on the most impoverished families in our state. Let's enable services for our elderly like long-term care with dignity. Care should include music therapy, and touch or massage therapy. Ohio should legalize cannabis and hemp production and then let industry do what they can to create their specialty niches rather than limiting it to a handful of corrupt lobbyists. Let Ohio harvest our resources responsibly and cleanly. Working to
We need a new and constitutionally legal funding plan for public education, which a Republican-dominated legislature has denied for over two decades. We need to let teachers teach again. We need to fund our secondary education network and hold them accountable for their spending decisions. We should return monies to local governments for local infrastructure and essential services. We need a high-speed internet for every community. We need cost controls on the pharmaceutical industry. Profits for the business should not mean gouging the public. Let's amend or end the Ohio Medicaid Recovery program, which amounts to a 100% inheritance tax on the most impoverished families in our state. Let's enable services for our elderly like long-term care with dignity. Care should include music therapy, and touch or massage therapy. Ohio should legalize cannabis and hemp production and then let industry do what they can to create their specialty niches rather than limiting it to a handful of corrupt lobbyists. Let Ohio harvest our resources responsibly and cleanly. Working to
I am a Christ-follower, a believing Christian. I try my best to follow his example and teaching. I've been fortunate enough to have had many mentors and role models, but I have to say that my father, Tom Fletcher is still one of the most Christ-like men I've ever had the chance to know and look up to. I know that's not just my prejudice because I am aware that others who know him would and often do describe him the same way.
I still believe the most important characteristics have to do with being a person that strives to be of good character. I can't come up with a list much better than the Scout Law, which still guides me: A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
1) I'm a good listener.
2) I've spent much of my career learning to study a subject matter and develop an opinion of value or the best course of action.
3) I've learned that you can not please everyone; not everyone is going to agree with me and that's ok.
I remember when President Kennedy died and when President Johnson road in a parade through my home town the next spring, my elementary school, and class stood by roadside to watch and wave.
I did several things to earn money as a young child, collecting newspapers and bottles to recycle. I worked the gate at the county fair and mowed lawns for neighbors. I'll say my first real job was an after school job I took during my freshman year of high school. I worked doing cleanup for a donut maker. When school was over, I would bus into town and work until about 10:00 pm every day. Then I'd walk home for supper and homework. I was a good student, but my grades suffered because of the long hours of working. After three months, I quit so that I could concentrate on school. That created some problems for me at home for the next several months, but it also allowed me to get involved in things that I did for years, which still interest me today, martial arts, and sign language. I continued to work mowing lawns, and by the next summer, I left to work the entire summer as a staff member at Scout camp.
There were several books that I read over and over as a kid. The first response that comes to mind is one of those which was about a young Irish fellow who spent a season as a guard in the Limberlost woods. He was hired to protect a forest and wetlands and he met a young woman there, his Angel. I've not read it in years. It captured my mind for a time and I'd probably still enjoy it as a book vacation today. "Freckles" by Gene Stratton-Porter
I like biographies more than fiction. How about I'll say Daniel Boone in that we have fictionalized so much of what we know about his life.
Songs don't' stick in my head. I have to work really hard to remember a song. I'm more of a visual learner, hence the constant reading. I'm trying to learn and remember some good Irish pub songs these days with the hopes of singing them with my family.
Life is a struggle but we have to learn to enjoy the journey. I think my career up to now has been a path to this. A person chooses their course but the Lord directs their steps.
Each Senate represents a larger district and typically more diverse groups of citizens than the House districts. Each Senate district in Ohio consists of three House Districts. For that reason, those in the Senate should have a broader vision of the world they intend to represent. Those in the House can focus more narrowly on their smaller group of constituents. My district 30 is very rural. It is the largest geographic district in Ohio, encompassing more counties than any other. (10 counties). From what I can see, each chamber does much the same thing. Under the best circumstances, they should keep a bit of a check on each other. With a Republican trifecta for 22 of the last 29 years, Ohio has not had much of checks and balances between House and Senate.
Ours is a government intended and designed to be run by the citizens and not by professional politicians. I think the supposed benefits of previous government experience are much overblown and tend to be talked about when it is self-serving to do so. Ohio debated the benefits and drawbacks of term limits from about 1980 until 1992. The collect best minds concluded that previous government or political experience was of limited importance. Thirty-five states have done the same. Twenty-three states have term limits for their congressional representatives. When put to the ballot that idea passed with substantial majority approval from the public, I think most Ohio citizens would also support that idea if it were on the ballot.
Without being negative, I think Ohio and the nation are likely to have many difficult issues to face over the coming decade. The most significant challenge anyone sees is often perceived based on those things that affect them most personally.
Dealing with the changing population mix, an aging population, a younger generation that is much inclined to relocate, an economy that will cycle down eventually, rapidly changing technology, possible consequences from climate changes, pollution, and I could go on. I don't think my idea of the most significant challenges necessarily matches up with yours or yours with the next person. I do believe that in many cases, the answers lie in the quote, "Think globally, act locally."
Dealing with the changing population mix, an aging population, a younger generation that is much inclined to relocate, an economy that will cycle down eventually, rapidly changing technology, possible consequences from climate changes, pollution, and I could go on. I don't think my idea of the most significant challenges necessarily matches up with yours or yours with the next person. I do believe that in many cases, the answers lie in the quote, "Think globally, act locally."
I think the state legislature should consistently be representative of the people in the state. As a result of gerrymandering, Ohio has had a distorted legislative representation for a long time. Hopefully, we will fix that when they redraw the district lines after 2020. If the political distribution of the legislature better represented those of the Ohio people, fewer things might get done. Still, it would be more likely they would be done in a manner than involved cooperation and compromise so that more people would be content with the results. Here's where I get to say, "We can do better if we work together!" A system of cooperation between competing opinions does lead to more satisfaction within the group. I suppose that if the legislative body is slanted too far to one party, I think the best relationship with the governor might be if that governor were of the minority party. If the legislature is balance it doesn't make as much difference. The things the government does and does not do tend to get way out of balance when only one party dominates the whole conversation for too long.
Absolutely yes. We don't have to agree on everything to have functional relationships. Most people probably do not agree on everything with their partners. When we build relations, we take time to find those big and little things which we do share. We can explore goals and create solutions from our commonality. It's much harder to hate someone who you know and found a reason to like and appreciate even when that person might disagree with you on some pretty essential mattes.
I find that one to be a tricky question because I do have a wide variety of interests. There are 14 standing committees. I'll list those in the top half of my preferences.
Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources
Education
Energy and Public Utilities
Finance
Financial Institutions
Health, Human Services and Aging
I'm a team player. Let's wait until I'm there. Then we can look at the team and determine who fits best in what positions.
Today, I'm thinking of David Crockett.
Please allow me to run one race at a time. I've thought about running for a couple of decades. Until about a year ago, I was not sure I would ever have to opportunity to run in any race. I have said that I intend to commit at least the next ten years to public service in government. Who knows what the future holds
Between 2008 and 2012, I worked as an EMT for a private ambulance service. One day we were asked to transport a patient out of Athens Behavior Hospital to her hometown. She was a heroin addict and pregnant. She admitted herself to the hospital to get clean for her baby. We got to Parkersburg when she realized that they had not given her the maintenance medications she needed, and she started flipping out. The medic on the squad with me had little patience, to begin with, and none for this pregnant addict. I had to pull off and request a medic backup with some empathy. While waiting, I held her hand, listened to her story, and tried to give her some reassurance. Once backup arrived, I had to drive the squad. She was headed to another hospital the next day, but for some reason, they would not allow us to do a hospital to hospital transfer. We were required to take her home and leave her, where her dealer and boyfriend were. She desperately wanting to get clean but lacked the confidence that she could resist using around them. She was an addict. In the end, she was crying and begging us not to leave her there. I could only listen, wipe her tears, exchange a hug, and offer her my prayers. I'll never know how it turned out for her and her baby. The opiod crises has gotten much worse since then. Few families have not been affected.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 17, 2020
Senators
Jon Husted (R)
Bernie Moreno (R)
Representatives
District 1
Greg Landsman (D)
District 2
David Taylor (R)
District 3
Joyce Beatty (D)
District 4
Jim Jordan (R)
District 5
Bob Latta (R)
District 6
Michael Rulli (R)
District 7
Max Miller (R)
District 8
Warren Davidson (R)
District 9
Marcy Kaptur (D)
District 10
Michael Turner (R)
District 11
Shontel Brown (D)
District 12
Troy Balderson (R)
District 13
Emilia Sykes (D)
District 14
David Joyce (R)
District 15
Mike Carey (R)
Republican Party (12)
Democratic Party (5)
