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Michelle Novak
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Michelle Novak (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Ohio House of Representatives to represent District 53. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Novak completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Michelle Novak was born in Johnson City, New York. She earned a master's degree from Wright State University in 2015. Her career experience includes working as an operations manager for the Alzheimer's Association.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Ohio House of Representatives District 53
Thomas Hall defeated Michelle Novak in the general election for Ohio House of Representatives District 53 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Thomas Hall (R) | 68.2 | 36,768 |
 | Michelle Novak (D)  | 31.8 | 17,106 | |
| Total votes: 53,874 | |||
| = 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 Ohio House of Representatives District 53
Michelle Novak advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 53 on April 28, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michelle Novak | 100.0 | 3,696 |
| Total votes: 3,696 | |||
| = 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 Ohio House of Representatives District 53
Thomas Hall defeated Diane Mullins and Brett Guido in the Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 53 on April 28, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Thomas Hall | 44.6 | 3,507 |
 | Diane Mullins | 38.1 | 3,001 | |
| Brett Guido | 17.3 | 1,360 | ||
| Total votes: 7,868 | |||
| = 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
- Jeffrey Wellbaum (R)
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michelle Novak completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Novak'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 have served as a member of the Middletown City School District board of education for four years and was recently re-elected to my second term. My statewide advocacy for students and awareness of inequity in our education system compelled me to run for higher office. I understand the lived experiences of those in Ohio's 53rd house district and wants to be a voice for our children and our families in Columbus. I am a visionary and a changemaker. If elected, I will fight to guarantee a strong and fair economy, a quality and well-funded public education system, and safe and healthy communities for Ohio and the 53rd House District.
- I have been active on the front lines of advocacy for our public schools across Ohio fighting for fair and sufficient funding, fair accountability systems, transparency, and education as an investment in our children's future.
- I have a strong background in finance, budgeting, and organizational development. My leadership approach is to bring many voices to the table, especially those on the front lines doing the work in our community to identify our key community issues and work together for innovative solutions. I believe my role in Columbus will be to remove obstacles for our local community. We can make huge strides in addressing our drug epidemic, high poverty rates, improve our health systems, reduce crime, and build a flourishing economy through more state and local partnerships and collaboration. Our previous representatives have been divisive introducing more obstacles and undermining our ability to progress.
- I am vision oriented and I aim high. When I joined Middletown's School Board, I was determined to help Middletown become a nationally recognized school district. Within my first term, the district achieved this goal and continues to be at the forefront of innovation in public school education nationally. I believes that with strong visionary leaders, Ohio can be an economic and innovation leader. I am fiscally conservative/creative and don't serve special interest groups. My goal will be to reduce local poverty by investing in people. This approach will impact crime rates, economic development, education outcomes, reduce drug addiction, and improve the financial health of our state creating positive prosperity cycles.
Areas of public policy I am passionate about include providing a quality public school education for all children, school funding, economic development and simultaneous poverty reduction, and criminal justice reform.
I believe in prosperity through equity and assuring all people are able to participate, bringing people together to find common solutions, using research and best practices to inform policy decisions, criminal justice reform that relies on rehabilitation instead of punishment where appropriate, decriminalizing drug offenses, and fiscal conservatism cutting fat from the budget and investing in areas that will provide future dividends such as infrastructure improvement, education, training, and local business development. I believe that the state government needs to operate more as a local community support and not as an obstacle to local progress.
I believe in prosperity through equity and assuring all people are able to participate, bringing people together to find common solutions, using research and best practices to inform policy decisions, criminal justice reform that relies on rehabilitation instead of punishment where appropriate, decriminalizing drug offenses, and fiscal conservatism cutting fat from the budget and investing in areas that will provide future dividends such as infrastructure improvement, education, training, and local business development. I believe that the state government needs to operate more as a local community support and not as an obstacle to local progress.
I look up to Muhammad Ali. I attended his funeral a few years ago in Louisville, Kentucky and prior to the funeral I visited different places around the city and spoke to people about why I was there. Everyone from all walks of life shared stories with me about what they remembered about him and how he touched their lives. There was a short red haired woman who had decided that she would become a boxer because he inspired her that she could do anything. She had become a local boxing coach at the YMCA where his family still frequented. He inspired people and changed their lives. He made people believe they could do anything. People remembered his courage to do what he believed was right even if it meant he would lose everything. One of the best memories that someone shared with me was when they were a child, they saw him in town. He was wearing a suit and walking around talking to other people in suits. When he saw the children, he immediately left the other group and came over to the children to show them a magic trick. He loved magic tricks and he made everyone feel special.
I hope to always be a person of the people, to have courage to always do what is right, to make everyone feel heard and feel special, and to inspire people to know that they can do anything.
I hope to always be a person of the people, to have courage to always do what is right, to make everyone feel heard and feel special, and to inspire people to know that they can do anything.
Courageous, innovative, vision oriented, trailblazer, genuine, sincere, relatable
I would like my legacy to be the one that helped bring opportunities and prosperity to Ohio on a level not previously encountered and helped to make Ohio a place we are proud to call home where we can live, work, and retire in safety and with security. Basically where we can all have access to the American dream that seems to be eluding much of my generation and subsequent generations.
The first Iraq war when I was in Middle School was the first historical event that I remember. I had a pen pal who was serving in Iraq. Her name was Private Diane Matthews. I remember sending Kool-aid packets to her and writing about how much I hated Sadam Hussein. She wrote back telling me that we can hate people's actions but we shouldn't hate people. It surprised me because I thought if anyone hated him, it would be someone there fighting against him. But she didn't. She taught me about kindness and it is something that I have carried with me my whole life as well as a respect and love for our soldiers who are on the front lines. I believe that we honor them by fighting to uphold the ideals of democracy and freedom at home. I see attempts to limit access to voting and keeping people from the American dream as an affront to those ideals. Private Matthews was an African American woman fighting in Iraq for to protect those freedoms. The fact that African American women don't have access to equal pay, healthcare, and safety and security here, in the United States, is shameful and something that we need to be addressed.
My first job was at a local Taco Bell in Miamisburg. I worked there the summer of my junior year of high school. It is where I first learned about customer service. Soon after I started, they created a new role at the store for me that was 100% customer service focused. My first internship was with Mead in downtown Dayton on their IT team. My project was to help with the implementation of their CRM system. They said they liked to hire finance majors because they found us to be creative and visionary. After the project, they moved me to their accounting division to give me more experience in my field. I left when I was pregnant with my second child to focus on completing my degree. I had my son a month before graduating and still graduated with top honors in corporate finance. My first career oriented job was with AXA as a financial planner. I wanted to use my finance degree to help people. I worked mostly with teachers planning for their retirement.
Purification of the Heart by Hamza Yusuf - it is a self help book for spiritual diseases of the heart and it helps me to stay centered and keep my priorities straight. I have always liked non-fiction, self help books ever since I was a teenager and was reading "The Millionaire Next Door". I also like Jihad vs. McWorld, Rich Media, Poor Democracy, and the Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. I studied Political Economy in graduate school and enjoy delving into democracy studies.
Yesterday by Boys to Men
I was a single mother when I was 19 and had to work my way out of poverty while also facing social challenges associated with my new faith. Experiencing life nearly always on the brink of poverty has been difficult for me and I have had to make decisions about letting a lot of things go in order to keep a roof over my family's head and food on our table sometimes having to decide between medical treatment and a house payment. I have also made decisions to stay home with my children and prioritize them over my own comfort and career. Honoring my priorities while always feeling insecure has been a struggle. Meeting my own high expectations is a struggle and learning to let go, and trust God's plan for my life is always a challenge. But these are all challenges and struggles that I appreciate and that have helped me to relate to a lot of people across my district who face similar circumstances every day.
The most important difference is the number of elected legislators in each of the chambers. Each state senator has much more influence over decisions than each representative. The senate also has longer terms and are not constantly in an election cycle which could mean less accountability to our communities, but it also allows them to naturally have a longer term vision. And having more constituents allows them to focus on a bigger picture of an issues impact on a community. Representatives by having smaller districts and more frequent election cycles must maintain more frequent contact and relationships with our constituents.
No. I think the most important thing is that they are passionate about serving their community.
I think that our state's greatest challenge over the next decade will be rebuilding our economy.
I think it is a partnership with a common vision for the state. The legislature legislates laws based on local community feedback and considerations as representatives of those communities and the governor executes those laws keeping his or her sights on the overall vision and well-being for the state overall.
Yes, absolutely because I will just be one of 99 and we depend on the state senators also to pass legislation. It helps to collaborate on writing legislation to include different perspectives and experiences so that it will have a greater chance of passing through both chambers. We need to talk about our vision and implications of different laws. Building relationships will help to stay connected to local legislators who serve the same community or neighboring communities to find solutions for addressing our local issues. We will bring different perspectives on the same issues. I believe that governing in a democracy is about building these relationships. Fortunately from my advocacy work with the Alzheimer's Association and with the Ohio School Board association, I have already been able to build relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle.
I favor fair districts that don't divide communities and that put people first, not politics. A true democracy requires free and fair elections. The way our districts are drawn now, undermines our elections deteriorating our democratic foundation.
Primary and Secondary Education, Finance - Primary and Secondary Education, Economic and Workforce Development, Criminal Justice
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
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 26, 2020
Current members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Jason Stephens
Majority Leader:Marilyn John
Minority Leader:Dani Isaacsohn
Representatives
District 1
District 2
Latyna Humphrey (D)
District 3
Ismail Mohamed (D)
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
Allison Russo (D)
District 8
Anita Somani (D)
District 9
Munira Abdullahi (D)
District 10
Mark Sigrist (D)
District 11
Crystal Lett (D)
District 12
Brian Stewart (R)
District 13
Tristan Rader (D)
District 14
Sean Brennan (D)
District 15
Chris Glassburn (D)
District 16
District 17
Mike Dovilla (R)
District 18
Juanita Brent (D)
District 19
Phil Robinson (D)
District 20
District 21
Eric Synenberg (D)
District 22
Darnell Brewer (D)
District 23
Dan Troy (D)
District 24
Dani Isaacsohn (D)
District 25
Cecil Thomas (D)
District 26
District 27
Rachel Baker (D)
District 28
Karen Brownlee (D)
District 29
Cindy Abrams (R)
District 30
Mike Odioso (R)
District 31
Bill Roemer (R)
District 32
Jack Daniels (R)
District 33
Veronica Sims (D)
District 34
Derrick Hall (D)
District 35
Steve Demetriou (R)
District 36
Andrea White (R)
District 37
Tom Young (R)
District 38
Desiree Tims (D)
District 39
Phil Plummer (R)
District 40
Rodney Creech (R)
District 41
Erika White (D)
District 42
Elgin Rogers (D)
District 43
Michele Grim (D)
District 44
Josh Williams (R)
District 45
Jennifer Gross (R)
District 46
Thomas Hall (R)
District 47
Diane Mullins (R)
District 48
Scott Oelslager (R)
District 49
Jim Thomas (R)
District 50
Matthew Kishman (R)
District 51
Jodi Salvo (R)
District 52
Gayle Manning (R)
District 53
Joe Miller (D)
District 54
Kellie Deeter (R)
District 55
Michelle Teska (R)
District 56
Adam Mathews (R)
District 57
Jamie Callender (R)
District 58
Lauren McNally (D)
District 59
Tex Fischer (R)
District 60
Brian Lorenz (R)
District 61
Beth Lear (R)
District 62
Jean Schmidt (R)
District 63
Adam Bird (R)
District 64
Nick Santucci (R)
District 65
David Thomas (R)
District 66
Sharon Ray (R)
District 67
Melanie Miller (R)
District 68
District 69
Kevin Miller (R)
District 70
Brian Lampton (R)
District 71
Levi Dean (R)
District 72
Heidi Workman (R)
District 73
Jeff LaRe (R)
District 74
Bernard Willis (R)
District 75
Haraz Ghanbari (R)
District 76
Marilyn John (R)
District 77
Meredith Craig (R)
District 78
Matt Huffman (R)
District 79
District 80
Johnathan Newman (R)
District 81
James Hoops (R)
District 82
Roy Klopfenstein (R)
District 83
Ty Mathews (R)
District 84
Angela King (R)
District 85
Tim Barhorst (R)
District 86
Tracy Richardson (R)
District 87
Riordan McClain (R)
District 88
Gary Click (R)
District 89
D.J. Swearingen (R)
District 90
Justin Pizzulli (R)
District 91
Bob Peterson (R)
District 92
Mark Johnson (R)
District 93
Jason Stephens (R)
District 94
Kevin Ritter (R)
District 95
Ty Moore (R)
District 96
Ron Ferguson (R)
District 97
Adam Holmes (R)
District 98
Mark Hiner (R)
District 99
Sarah Fowler (R)
Republican Party (65)
Democratic Party (34)
