Robin Richards
Robin Richards is an at-large member of the Ralston Public Schools school board in Nebraska. She assumed office on November 25, 2019. Her current term ends in 2029.
Richards ran for re-election for an at-large seat of the Ralston Public Schools school board in Nebraska. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Robin Richards was born in David City, Nebraska. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2015. She attended Colorado State University in 2018 and Cornell University in 2021. Her career experience includes working as a business manager for the Nebraska Arts Council.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Ralston Public Schools, Nebraska, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Ralston Public Schools school board At-large (3 seats)
Incumbent Katie Krause, incumbent Samantha Willey, and incumbent Robin Richards won election in the general election for Ralston Public Schools school board At-large on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Katie Krause (Nonpartisan) | 36.9 | 4,704 | |
| ✔ | Samantha Willey (Nonpartisan) | 30.9 | 3,932 | |
| ✔ |  | Robin Richards (Nonpartisan) | 30.8 | 3,919 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.5 | 186 | ||
| Total votes: 12,741 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Katie Krause, incumbent Robin Richards, and incumbent Samantha Willey advanced from the primary for Ralston Public Schools school board At-large.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Richards in this election.
2022
See also: Nebraska State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Nebraska State Senate District 12
Merv Riepe defeated Robin Richards in the general election for Nebraska State Senate District 12 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Merv Riepe (Nonpartisan) | 52.3 | 5,942 |
| Robin Richards (Nonpartisan) | 47.7 | 5,418 | |
| Total votes: 11,360 | |||
| = 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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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Nebraska State Senate District 12
Merv Riepe and Robin Richards defeated Haile Kucera and Bob Borgeson in the primary for Nebraska State Senate District 12 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Merv Riepe (Nonpartisan) | 45.0 | 3,038 |
| ✔ | | Robin Richards (Nonpartisan) | 20.3 | 1,369 |
| Haile Kucera (Nonpartisan) | 17.5 | 1,185 | ||
| Bob Borgeson (Nonpartisan) | 17.2 | 1,163 | ||
| Total votes: 6,755 | |||
| = 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Bryce Lukowski (Nonpartisan)
2020
See also: Ralston Public Schools, Nebraska, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Ralston Public Schools school board At-large (3 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Ralston Public Schools school board At-large on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Merv Riepe (Nonpartisan) | 20.1 | 3,546 |
| ✔ | Heather Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 18.6 | 3,288 | |
| ✔ | | Robin Richards (Nonpartisan) | 17.4 | 3,074 |
 | Patrick McPherson (Nonpartisan) | 14.8 | 2,616 | |
| Catherine Payne (Nonpartisan) | 14.5 | 2,555 | ||
| Jodi Norton (Nonpartisan) | 14.0 | 2,480 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 112 | ||
| Total votes: 17,671 | |||
| = 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
Robin Richards did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released Apr 11, 2022 |
Robin Richards completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Richards' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My husband and I will have been together for 20 years this December. After staying home to raise our 2 sons, I finished my undergraduate work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, studying education, music, and English. I am currently a graduate student through Colorado State University studying Arts and Cultural Leadership with an emphasis on public policy and government finance. I hold 2 graduate certificates, one in Working with Disabled Populations from Colorado State and one in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University.
- My agenda would be our agenda; my job is to be a voice for the people I serve. Regardless of your affiliation, I will work with you to find compromises and listen with the same heart. Each of you matter to me and so do your thoughts and ideas. My door is and would be open to answering questions and having conversations that cross political divides and be a beacon of information and resources.
- I would work to manage the state aid formula (TEEOSA). The system that is currently in place is an incredibly dense formula that weighs needs vs resources in a system without enough funding to go around. Last year, a funding plan was introduced that would have effectively dropped the levy rate in almost every district (Ralston’s would drop from around $1.25 to $0.63, Millard’s to $0.70) and all but 6 federally funded districts at a higher rate. Under this plan, Ralston’s and Millard’s state aid would have doubled. If we want property tax relief, we have to restructure the funding of our public schools without taking more from them. We must shift the responsibility of paying for education to every citizen of Nebraska, not just homeowners.
- Across the country, states are using Creative District Programs to drive their economy forward by intentionally funding arts and creativity through grants in designated geographic areas. Studies show that the key benefits to working creativity into your community are 1) Generate Tax Revenue- Arts relates businesses generate 2.6 Billion in revenue for the state of Nebraska a year. That’s a lot of taxable revenue to invest in infrastructure! 2) Job Development- a creative workforce cannot ever be automated and will generate more job opportunities exponentially over time. 3) Investment in the Community.- Research tells us that for every dollar spent attending an arts offerings, it generates exponential profit for the community.
I am all about education, not just funding, but the entire system. I come from a family that has teachers as far back as our tree can stretch. I believe that while testing and academic measurement are an important data point to collect, it never tells the full story. Children come from a variety of backgrounds and situations and we must meet each child where they are and work with them to make them a productive citizen with dreams and goals for themselves for the future. Every kid should have hope.
I believe that I would keep all of those items in mind as I work to make decisions for us. Inclusion of different ideas and perspectives should be listened to and discussions had, even hard ones. I know that having every voice at the table seems overwhelming but we have the power at our fingertips to meet each other where we are and find common ground.
I am kind and caring but am also known for getting work done! I am driven and focused on the success of everyone in our community and know that it will be creativity and innovation that will carry us in to the future. I bring to the table a knowledge of economy and what it would take to revitalize areas of town that have long since been forgotten.
Berlin in the 90's, decades after the wall had fallen, was still fully aware of the tragic history of the unwanted divide in their country. This was where I learned what the wall had meant. The separation between families, the desperation of trying to anything to escape, and the burden being carried by the people who were fully aware of the trauma they had caused in Europe in the 40's.
We pulled up on a tour bus, 45 kids ages 10-18 and our chaperones, and the silence was deafening. The only 2 places that entire trip that they never had to ask us to keep our voices down, were here and in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There were just no words. Our guide led us to the wall and gave us his speech about regret and hardships left over from WW2. When one of the younger kids picked up a piece of the wall to put in their pocket as a souvenir, the guide said no, we must leave that here, the remnants of the wall must stay. When the young by asked why, you said it was torn down years ago. Our guide smiled and said because our generation wasn't there to see it so, this must stand as a reminder to never allow our division again.
They have this tough moment as a team as they watch this star player finally come around to work as a team and then traded out from under them is broken up by one of the other teammates, Danny, saying "Football is Life". His way of telling them, it's going to be ok. The whole time a simple melody on guitar plays beneath the scene and then this happy little song starts playing, like, you know what, it is going to be ok. It just sticks with me and I carry that positive moment with me, and that makes me smile.
The number one reason for leaving? There’s nothing to do here. So how do we fix that? We add arts and culture to our city planning. We only need to look as far as Grand Island to see how this works. The organization Grow Grand Island has been the lead in revitalization in their town. Their approach is 3 tiered and labeled work, play, and learn. This approach centers the needs of, not only the employee, but the full family into the picture. Giving a quality education and things to do will increase the amount of people that stay and attract families to the area. Grand Island has seen an average growth of seventeen percent per year since the program started and in 2022 they boasted their largest population to date.While our taxes are high, it is still relatively inexpensive to live here. We pay competitive wages, have available housing and other focus on family but when people in the rural parts of our state have to run to Omaha, Lincoln, or Denver to take in the arts and culture, they will tire of leaving home for leisure activities and eventually make the move to a place where they can access the amenities they are looking for.
The learning curve for any senator is steep but these agencies that provide powerful and needed resources for their community should not be at the mercy of someone that does not understand their work making laws and arbitrary decisions for them. While each senator comes to the floor with their own talents and knowledge (none of them can be experts in every area) and they must rely on each others knowledge to be successful and make the best decisions for everyone in our state.
There have been very few times in my life that inviting people to share their perspective with me, didn't teach me something new. In policy making, there is always room to get more perspective. The realization that the nearly two million people living in our state, and will be directly affected by the decisions we make, each have their own story and needs will drive us to broaden our thinking and be more creative in our problem solving. Being willing to work on ideas together is the only way to bridge the gap in our political divide.
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.
2020
Robin Richards did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 14, 2022
