Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Richard Tatem
2022 - Present
2026
2
Richard Tatem is a member of the School District of Manatee County school board in Florida, representing District 5. He assumed office on November 22, 2022. His current term ends on November 17, 2026.
Tatem (Republican Party) ran for election to the Florida House of Representatives to represent District 72. He lost in the Republican primary on August 20, 2024.
Tatem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Richard Tatem was born in Dayton, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1984 to 2018. He earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1988 and a graduate degree from Middlebury College in 1990. He graduated from the French Political Science Institute in 1989. His career experience includes working on intergovernmental task forces and as a military officer.[1]
Tatem has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Hillsdale College
- The Heritage Foundation
- The American Center for Law and Justice
- American Legion
- Republican Liberty Caucus
- Moose Lodge
Elections
2024
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 72
Bill Conerly defeated Lesa Miller in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 72 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Bill Conerly (R)  | 64.7 | 71,463 |
 | Lesa Miller (D) | 35.3 | 39,013 | |
| Total votes: 110,476 | |||
| = 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
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Lesa Miller advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72
Bill Conerly defeated Richard Tatem, Alyssa Gay, and Richard Green in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72 on August 20, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill Conerly | 31.1 | 6,182 |
 | Richard Tatem | 28.1 | 5,597 | |
| Alyssa Gay | 22.5 | 4,478 | ||
| Richard Green | 18.3 | 3,651 | ||
| Total votes: 19,908 | |||
| = 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
- Tommy Gregory (R)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Tatem's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Tatem in this election.
2022
See also: Manatee County School District, Florida, elections (2022)
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for School District of Manatee County school board District 5
Richard Tatem won election outright against incumbent James T. Golden and Chantal Wilford in the primary for School District of Manatee County school board District 5 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Richard Tatem (Nonpartisan) | 50.5 | 12,041 |
 | James T. Golden (Nonpartisan) | 33.1 | 7,882 | |
| Chantal Wilford (Nonpartisan) | 16.5 | 3,925 | ||
| Total votes: 23,848 | |||
| = 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
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Richard Tatem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tatem's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Tommy Gregory, the district 72 incumbent and a USAF Academy graduate like me, just became the President of the State College of Florida. He is not running for re-election. To learn more about why I am the most qualified candidate for this seat, please go to richtatem.com.
My career includes a wide variety of experiences: military pilot and airline pilot; college professor; HQ Air Force Reserve Command Planning, Budgeting, and Execution Directorate; leadership educator and workshop facilitator and executive leadership coach. I also wrote and published a book on the Founding Fathers (Interviews With The Founders - the way American is now and the way America is supposed to be), and I had a patriotic radio show and podcast for two years.
FYI – I am involved as a community volunteer. I have been delivering food, on a weekly basis, to schools during the school year, for FELT (Feeding Empty Little Tummies) for 2 years. And, I am not funded by builders.- Illegal immigration must stop! The burdens, especially financial, that it is putting on our local communities is unacceptable, and state and federal authorities must work better together to stem the tide. Elections matter - and it is elected officials who will decide how much effort and cooperation will take place at the state and federal levels on illegal immigration. In the state house, I pledge to work with the governor to support and fund his efforts to combat illegal immigration.
- The cost of building traditional public school must come down! Funding for building public schools is almost completely locally generated, and the local tax base and rate cannot keep up with these rising costs. Changes must be made to the SREF (State Requirements for Educational Facilities) code to allow school building costs to be more in line with charter school building costs (charter schools are not bound by the SREF). Making changes to the SREF will save billions of dollars of tax-payer funds across Florida. Additionally, unfunded/partially funded mandates from the state create additional tax burdens on local jurisdictions, so these types of mandates must be stopped and repealed.
- The state must do a better job of fast-tracking infrastructure projects so that they are in place before growth happens. Taking this action is the primary way that the state can assist with "smart growth."
- Combating woke education and protecting female spaces and sports
- Ronald Reagan - principled conservative, strong communicator, man of high integrity
- Experience in a wide variety of areas and at high levels of leadership: especially at the state and federal levels, elected officials will have to learn about a plethora of different subjects and then integrate that information into legislation and voting decisions. There is no substitute for this type of experience.
- Elected officials must demonstrate the highest ethical and moral standards.
- Minimize the burden of the administrative state on the citizens - thereby minimizing tax burdens
- Ensure fiscal soundness of state budgets
- lowered taxes by bring down the cost of building schools, by eliminating the commercial rent tax, and by raising the business property tax exemption
- reduced the administrative and financial burden on citizens by eliminating unfunded/partially funded mandates
After the Bible, "A Conflict of Visions" by Thomas Sowell.
- Providing adequate health care facilities and caregivers for an aging population
"A few weeks ago, on a weeknight, I attended a parents meeting at Lakewood Ranch High School. Parents, teachers and band directors were concerned the board was going to cut funding to the music programs.
Richard Tatem attended the meeting and did something quite shocking: He actually listened to everyone's concerns and took notes. He did exactly what an elected official is supposed to do: He was present for the people he represents.
I have a daughter involved in the band program at a local high school, and the following morning I emailed Tatem to express my appreciation for what he did. Tatem immediately returned my email, and he couldn't have been more genuine."
I replied, "I don't know, I am not a chicken!"
- Conservative Watch USA
- Florida Family Action
- Bikers for Trump
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.
2022
Richard Tatem did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Florida House of Representatives District 72 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James T. Golden |
School District of Manatee County school board District 5 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
