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Pete Wells (Virginia)
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Pete Wells (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 71. Wells lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.
Wells completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Wells was a Libertarian candidate for Virginia's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House. Wells lost the general election on November 6, 2018.
Biography
Wells was born in Darlington, Wisconsin. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University. Wells' career experience includes working in sales quoting and sourcing building materials for residential construction. He served in the U.S. Navy from 2000 to 2008.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2019
General election
General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 71
Incumbent Jeff Bourne defeated Pete Wells in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 71 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jeff Bourne (D) | 88.2 | 20,311 |
 | Pete Wells (L)  | 11.5 | 2,637 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 81 | ||
| Total votes: 23,029 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2018
General election
Incumbent Aston Donald McEachin defeated Ryan McAdams and Pete Wells in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 4 on November 6, 2018.
General election
General election for U.S. House Virginia District 4
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Aston Donald McEachin (D) | 62.6 | 187,642 |
 | Ryan McAdams (R) | 35.9 | 107,706 | |
| Pete Wells (L) | 1.4 | 4,233 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 273 | ||
| Total votes: 299,854 | |||
| = 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
Incumbent Aston Donald McEachin was the only candidate to file for the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 4. Therefore, the Democratic primary scheduled for June 12, 2018, was canceled.[2]
Republican primary election
Ryan McAdams defeated Shion Fenty in the Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 4 on June 12, 2018.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 4
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ryan McAdams | 72.6 | 17,513 |
 | Shion Fenty | 27.4 | 6,621 | |
| Total votes: 24,134 | |||
| = 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
- David Leon (R)
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Pete Wells completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wells' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a Virginian by choice. I come from a family of blue collar entrepreneurs and public servants. Served as a Hospital Corpsman in the US Navy from 2000-2008, I'm a father and husband and Eagle Scout.
- I represent a difference voice and perspective in politics detached from party machines, career politicians and wealthy donors.
- Our government is inefficient and unjust. It favors wealthy donors and entrenched interests over regular citizens.
- With even a small number of independent and third party candidates in our legislature we can break up the stalemate between the two corporate funded parties and force them to the bargaining table to work for the people and not their benefactors.
My passion is for criminal justice reform and cutting red tape that prevents regular people from getting ahead in life. I am a civil libertarian and focus primarily on things that make the government run more efficiently and work more fairly for all citizens while protecting the civil rights of all people.
I look up to my father and my grandfathers. I always try to follow their examples of kindness, compassion, perseverance and community service. My grandpa Wells served in the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII and grandpa Korn served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Both continued to serve their communities through civic organizations and volunteer work. My mother passed away when I was 9 years old and my father gave everything he could to raise my sister and I, volunteering with our church and school, he founded our local Boy Scout troop and served as it's second scoutmaster, taught hunters safety, serves on the local volunteer EMS and fire department and volunteered to help my sister's Girl Scout troop as well. When the factory he worked for closed down he remade his life and went to the police academy and served as a ranger with the Wisconsin DNR until he had to step down after a heart surgery. These men raised me and showed me what it means to be a man, a father, a husband, a citizen and a good person.
Leonard Read's "I, Pencil" or Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson". Alice Goffman "On the Run; Fugitive Life in an American City"
The ability to balance their principles with the needs of their district while not being swayed by the influence of powerful lobbies and donors.
the ability to communicate my ideas to people from different political philosophies. Too often we want the same things but the ever growing divide in our mainstream political parties has created to very distinct languages for communicating those ideas.
To represent the needs of their district in the legislature while also communicating to their constituents about what is going on in the district and the house and how it impacts them.
I would like to leave Virginia more open minded than it was.
I Remember the 1980 presidential campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. I was 4 years old at the time.
My very first job outside of the family business (Where I helped out from grade school) was as a Boy Scout camp counselor at Canyon Camp in Northern Illinois. I worked there the summers after my sophomore and junior years of high school.
"Freakanomics" by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt It provides an interesting and unique way to look at societal issues from an economist's viewpoint.
I prefer to keep my difficulties private. Everyone has enough problems to deal with without thinking about mine.
The both houses work to represent their districts and are democratically elected, apart from the size of their districts the importance of having a bicameral legislature is the road blocks it places against a runaway political monopoly. Ideally no single party should control both houses.
I believe that there is a benefit to prior experience but I don't see it as a prerequisite. If that experience comes from serving under administrations controlled by special interests all that you learn is how to appease the wealthy lobbyists often at the expense of your constituents. Being good at rubbing elbows and greasing palms is just being good at all the things that are wrong with our system.
Our biggest challenges will come from adapting to a changing world. Energy policy to adapt to climate change, Education policies to adapt to a rapidly growing population, Regulatory policies to grant the greatest amount of opportunity to a growing population. One of the biggest challenges will be getting one of the largest vested interests out of Virginia politician's pockets.
Ideally the Governor provides a check against the power of the legislature and the legislature provides a check against the power of the governor. We don't want them to work together to rubber stamp policies. They should serve to advise one another on the limits of their power and craft policy with realistic goals.
Of course it's beneficial to build relationships. Legislation doesn't pass without support. It could be the best, most perfectly crafted bill that would provide great benefit to everyone, but if the legislator bringing it forward is unpopular with their colleagues it will never even see a vote.
Militia Police and Public Safety Committee, Health Welfare and Institutions Committee and Courts of Justice Committee are the committees I see as the best chances of effecting change for our criminal justice system and the Commerce and Labor Committee would be a great opportunity to help increase opportunities for regular people.
Under our current structure there is no leadership in place for independent or third party legislators. I would love to see that change and create one.
I believe in term limits and after 3 Terms I would leave office to seek election to a different office in city, state or federal government.
There are stories but I have heard on the campaign trail of regular people trying to escape the poverty trap and encountering roadblocks in our criminal justice system and from state regulations that prevent them from getting ahead. The stories of abuse from police enforcing the war on drugs, entrepreneurs giving up their dreams because they aren't capable of complying with burdensome regulations hit me the hardest.
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
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 21, 2019
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Certified Candidates in Ballot Order for June 12, 2018 Primary Elections," accessed January 15, 2019
Current members of the Virginia House of Delegates
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Don Scott
Majority Leader:Charniele Herring
Minority Leader:Terry Kilgore
Representatives
District 1
Patrick Hope (D)
District 2
Adele McClure (D)
District 3
Alfonso Lopez (D)
District 4
District 5
District 6
R.C. Sullivan (D)
District 7
District 8
Irene Shin (D)
District 9
Karrie Delaney (D)
District 10
Dan Helmer (D)
District 11
David Bulova (D)
District 12
Holly Seibold (D)
District 13
Marcus Simon (D)
District 14
Vivian Watts (D)
District 15
Laura Jane Cohen (D)
District 16
Paul Krizek (D)
District 17
Mark Sickles (D)
District 18
Kathy Tran (D)
District 19
Rozia Henson (D)
District 20
District 21
Joshua Thomas (D)
District 22
Ian Lovejoy (R)
District 23
Candi King (D)
District 24
Luke Torian (D)
District 25
Briana Sewell (D)
District 26
Jas Singh (D)
District 27
Atoosa Reaser (D)
District 28
David Reid (D)
District 29
Marty Martinez (D)
District 30
Geary Higgins (R)
District 31
Delores Oates (R)
District 32
Bill Wiley (R)
District 33
Todd Gilbert (R)
District 34
Tony Wilt (R)
District 35
Chris Runion (R)
District 36
Ellen Campbell (R)
District 37
Terry Austin (R)
District 38
Sam Rasoul (D)
District 39
Will Davis (R)
District 40
Joseph McNamara (R)
District 41
Chris Obenshain (R)
District 42
Jason Ballard (R)
District 43
Will Morefield (R)
District 44
Israel O'Quinn (R)
District 45
Terry Kilgore (R)
District 46
Jed Arnold (R)
District 47
Wren Williams (R)
District 48
Eric Phillips (R)
District 49
Danny Marshall (R)
District 50
Tommy Wright (R)
District 51
Eric Zehr (R)
District 52
Wendell Walker (R)
District 53
Tim Griffin (R)
District 54
Katrina Callsen (D)
District 55
Amy Laufer (D)
District 56
Thomas Garrett (R)
District 57
David Owen (R)
District 58
Rodney Willett (D)
District 59
Buddy Fowler (R)
District 60
Scott Wyatt (R)
District 61
Michael Webert (R)
District 62
Nick Freitas (R)
District 63
Phillip Scott (R)
District 64
Paul Milde (R)
District 65
Joshua Cole (D)
District 66
Bobby Orrock (R)
District 67
Hillary Kent (R)
District 68
Keith Hodges (R)
District 69
Chad Green (R)
District 70
Shelly Simonds (D)
District 71
Amanda Batten (R)
District 72
Lee Ware (R)
District 73
Mark Earley (R)
District 74
Mike Cherry (R)
District 75
Carrie Coyner (R)
District 76
Debra Gardner (D)
District 77
Michael Jones (D)
District 78
Betsy Carr (D)
District 79
Rae Cousins (D)
District 80
District 81
Delores McQuinn (D)
District 82
Kim Taylor (R)
District 83
H. Wachsmann (R)
District 84
Nadarius Clark (D)
District 85
Marcia Price (D)
District 86
Aijalon Cordoza (R)
District 87
Jeion Ward (D)
District 88
Don Scott (D)
District 89
N. Baxter Ennis (R)
District 90
Jay Leftwich (R)
District 91
Cliff Hayes (D)
District 92
Bonita Anthony (D)
District 93
Jackie Glass (D)
District 94
Phil Hernandez (D)
District 95
Alex Askew (D)
District 96
District 97
Michael Feggans (D)
District 98
Barry Knight (R)
District 99
District 100
Robert Bloxom (R)
Democratic Party (51)
Republican Party (49)
Senators
Tim Kaine (D)
Mark Warner (D)
Representatives
District 1
Rob Wittman (R)
District 2
Jennifer Kiggans (R)
District 3
Bobby Scott (D)
District 4
District 5
John McGuire (R)
District 6
District 7
Eugene Vindman (D)
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
Vacant
Democratic Party (7)
Republican Party (5)
Vacancies (1)
