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Ryan Deems
Ryan Deems (Democratic Party) ran for election to the West Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 70. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Biography
Ryan Deems was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Glenville State College in 2011 and a master’s degree in educational technology from Boise State University in 2018. Deems’s career experience includes working as a public school teacher in West Virginia. He served as president of the Harrison County Education Association, which describes its mission as “to motivate, engage and empower those who strive to be leaders in the educational community.”[1][2]
Elections
2022
See also: West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2022
General election
General election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70
Mickey Petitto defeated Ryan Deems in the general election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mickey Petitto (R) | 53.8 | 2,108 |
 | Ryan Deems (D) | 46.2 | 1,808 | |
| Total votes: 3,916 | |||
 = 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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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70
Ryan Deems defeated Ronald Fragale in the Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ryan Deems | 50.5 | 525 |
 | Ronald Fragale | 49.5 | 514 | |
| Total votes: 1,039 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70
Mickey Petitto defeated Paul Howe, Bryan Payne, and Tyler Hart in the Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 70 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mickey Petitto | 39.8 | 330 |
| Paul Howe | 28.5 | 236 | ||
| Bryan Payne | 16.8 | 139 | ||
| Tyler Hart | 15.0 | 124 | ||
| Total votes: 829 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2020
See also: West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2020
General election
General election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 (4 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ben Queen (R) | 16.4 | 16,706 |
| ✔ |  | Danny Hamrick (R) | 14.3 | 14,642 |
| ✔ |  | Laura Kimble (R) | 14.2 | 14,495 |
| ✔ |  | Clay Riley (R) | 13.3 | 13,559 |
 | Richard Iaquinta (D) | 11.8 | 12,083 | |
| Josh Maxwell (D) | 9.6 | 9,831 | ||
| Robert Garcia (D) | 9.6 | 9,785 | ||
| Ryan Deems (D) | 7.1 | 7,297 | |
 | Will Hyman (L) | 2.2 | 2,275 | |
| J. Steve Hamilton (Mountain Party) | 1.4 | 1,476 | ||
| Total votes: 102,149 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 (4 seats)
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Richard Iaquinta | 24.3 | 6,189 |
| ✔ | Robert Garcia | 19.7 | 5,024 | |
| ✔ | Josh Maxwell | 17.3 | 4,401 | |
| ✔ | | Ryan Deems | 14.9 | 3,796 |
 | Robin Righter | 12.4 | 3,173 | |
 | Justin Lung | 11.5 | 2,930 | |
| Total votes: 25,513 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 (4 seats)
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Queen | 19.7 | 4,749 |
| ✔ | | Danny Hamrick | 17.3 | 4,176 |
| ✔ | | Laura Kimble | 16.1 | 3,892 |
| ✔ | | Clay Riley | 14.5 | 3,507 |
| Jason Campbell | 13.4 | 3,222 | ||
 | Ben Hanlan | 12.5 | 3,026 | |
 | Garrett Stire | 6.4 | 1,541 | |
| Total votes: 24,113 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Mountain Party primary election
Mountain Party primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 (4 seats)
J. Steve Hamilton advanced from the Mountain Party primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | J. Steve Hamilton | 100.0 | 71 | |
| Total votes: 71 | |||
| = 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 West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 (4 seats)
Will Hyman advanced from the Libertarian convention for West Virginia House of Delegates District 48 on April 8, 2020.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Will Hyman (L) |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Deems' endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ryan Deems did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Ryan Deems completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Deems' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Professionally, Ryan started teaching at Westside High School in Wyoming County. He held the position of band director at Westside HS from 2011 to 2014. He was hired by Harrison County schools in August of 2014 and teaches general music, orchestra, and band. Ryan became a National Board Certified teacher in 2019. He also serves as the President of the Harrison County Education Association.
Politically, this is the first time Ryan has ran for office. He is a proud signer of the West Virginia Can't Wait Pledge. As a signer, he refuses to accept corporate PAC money, cross a picket line, or hide from a debate.
Ryan lives in Clarksburg with his wife, Kaitlin, who is a special education teacher. They have three dogs: Max, Jake, and Kia.- We need to "Invest in West Virginia"
- For too long, those with the least have had to bear the most while those with the most bear the least. We need a government that works for its people, not the Good Ol' Boys
- We need politicians who understand the struggle of every day people and know what it means to be a public servant
Small business is the life blood of our economy. While the current legislature has been chasing large businesses with tax cut after tax cut to no avail, I propose that we invest in ourselves. We should strive to make West Virginia the best place to operate a small business.
Through my participation in the WV Teachers' strike, I have realized how powerful the collective voice of employees can be. We need to expand access to unions for everyone, repeal "Right-to-Work", and ensure a living wage and affordable benefits for all.
An elected official needs to be a good listener. They need to be available to listen to the concerns of their people.
When my political career is over, I want people to say, "Ryan Deems wasn't afraid to speak his mind and stand up for his constituents and always worked in good faith to move West Virginia forward".
While I did this in the summer, I worked at various programs that Parks and Recreation offered during the school year. I worked as a tutor at an after-school program for two years. I also helped coach and referee youth and high school basketball games in the winter, while I would help coordinate, referee, and coach "T"-ball in the summer. I also served as an educational tour guide for their educational enrichment displays during the school year.
Working at Harrison County Parks and Recreation was a great experience. My coworkers became like family to me and I learned many valuable lessons about working with kids.
I worked at Harrison County Parks and Recreation from 2005 to 2018.
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
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ HCEAWV, “Home,” accessed May 12, 2020
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 7, 2020
