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Michael Bartley (Virginia)
Michael Bartley (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 70. Bartley lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.
Biography
Michael Bartley was born in Cambridge, Ohio. He received a bachelor's degree from Tri-State University in 2000 and attended graduate school at George Washington University. Bartley's professional experience includes working as an aerospace engineer beginning in 2000. He was a member of the demonstrator team that won the Collier Award in 2010. Bartley has been associated with the Warwick United Church of Christ as a Deacon.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2023
General election
General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 70
Incumbent Shelly Simonds defeated Matt Waters and Michael Bartley in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 70 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Shelly Simonds (D)  | 57.1 | 13,836 |
 | Matt Waters (R) | 39.9 | 9,664 | |
 | Michael Bartley (L) | 2.8 | 674 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 50 | ||
| Total votes: 24,224 | |||
| = 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. Incumbent Shelly Simonds advanced from the Democratic primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 70.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Matt Waters advanced from the Republican primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 70.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bartley in this election.
2019
See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2019
General election
General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 94
Shelly Simonds defeated incumbent David Yancey and Michael Bartley in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 94 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Shelly Simonds (D) | 57.7 | 11,563 |
 | David Yancey (R) | 40.3 | 8,070 | |
| Michael Bartley (L) | 1.9 | 376 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 25 | ||
| Total votes: 20,034 | |||
| = 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
Bartley was endorsed by the Virginia Citizens Defence League, the Clean Money Squad, and Virginia House of Delegates District 96 candidate James Jobe.[2]
2017
General election
Elections for the Virginia House of Delegates took place in 2017. All 100 house seats were up for election. The general election took place on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on June 13, 2017. The filing deadline for primary election candidates was March 30, 2017. The filing deadline for non-party candidates and candidates nominated by methods other than a primary was June 13, 2017.[3] Incumbent David Yancey (R) defeated Shelly Simonds (D) and Michael Bartley (Libertarian) in the Virginia House of Delegates District 94 general election. Simonds joined the race after the previous Democratic candidate, Zachary Wittkamp, dropped out in August 2017.[4][5]
| Virginia House of Delegates, District 94 General Election, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Shelly Simonds | 48.59% | 11,608 | |
| Republican |  David Yancey Incumbent |
48.59% | 11,608 | |
| Libertarian | Michael Bartley | 2.83% | 675 | |
| Total Votes (Race decided by random drawing) | 23,891 | |||
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections | ||||
Democratic primary election
Zachary Wittkamp ran unopposed in the Virginia House of Delegates District 94 Democratic primary.[6]
| Virginia House of Delegates, District 94 Democratic Primary, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | ||
| Zachary Wittkamp | ||
Republican primary election
Incumbent David Yancey ran unopposed in the Virginia House of Delegates District 94 Republican primary.[7]
| Virginia House of Delegates, District 94 Republican Primary, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | ||
| David Yancey Incumbent | ||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Bartley did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Michael Bartley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bartley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I am an aerospace engineer that lives in a four generational household. As a professional I try and make parts more efficient my making them simpler and using more modern materials. This can be done in government as well. Have government do less, and use modern technology and you will get a better product. I am a devout Christian, and my political philosophy relates this. God requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Your neighbor may be different from you in many ways, but you must love them. It is my duty to help the poor. Many regulations and laws are made to benefit one group normally well connected and afluent over another. We make regulations that make goods and services too expensive for hte poor to use, and make it illegal for them to work. Victimless crimes are selectively enforced in poor neighborhoods, kids are required to go to the schools based on the zip code they live in. Giving the poor a criminal record for not harming others, and a poor education is not I can stand by and watch in good concence. As an engineer, I value empirical data. I want to see what has worked in the world, and use it here.
Fund children, not schools. Allow children go to any public school in the state for free. Fund it from the state. Have 75% of the funding folow the child to privat or homeschools.
End all victomless crimes.
End corprat welfare.
Many of them are designed to help them, like the minimum wage and Medicaid, but are ineffective. Medicaid has been shown to not improve medical outcomes over being uninsured. Having a healthcare system closer to Singapore where they have the best health outcomes, with the lowest costs is a no brainier. The minimum wage creates unemployment and lower total income for the poorest people in society.
Occupational licensing makes it difficult for for people to get a job, especially if they have a criminal record or if spouses have to move for work.
Certificate of public needs require hospitals to get permission from the government to expand, and your competitors can claim they would loose money to stop you. This would be bad enough if it were for car washes, but when it is hospitals, people can die. The only effects of this terrible legislation is higher medical cost and worse medical outcomes. Killing people for profit is bad policy, and neither of my opponents came out against it in the last debate.
End civil asset forfeiture. This allows police to take your property even if you are never charged with a crime.
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.
2017
Ballotpedia candidate survey
Bartley participated in a survey created by Ballotpedia. The survey was designed to let our readers know more about the candidates and feel confident that they are voting for the best person to represent them. The survey questions appear bolded, and Bartley's responses follow below.
| “ | We as a nation incarcerate more people than any other in the world, it is the greatest stain on our nation and the number one reason I am running for political office. I will propose legislation ending all victimless crimes. Having police only arresting people whose crimes have victims will help end the "stop snitching" culture that makes it difficult to solve some murders. Many violent crimes are as a result of gang wars. The gangs only exist because of the profits of the black market. If profits are removed, the reason for the violence also will be removed. If you look at the crime rates around alcohol prohibition, you will clearly see it spike at the beginning, and went back down at the end. Prohibition of popular illegal intoxicants happened slowly, so it is harder to see its affect. When it ends, the precipitous drop in violent crime will be seen by all.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | As an Aerospace Engineer this topic is very close to my heart, and I personally do not want to retire until zero roll aircraft are as cheap as luxury automobile. Innovative technologies are what has in the past and will in the future improve society. You can trust me to get the government out of the way of technological innovation. I hope to have my next car be a self-driving car. Ninety-two percent of all accidents are solely caused by humans. Even a less-than-perfect self-driving car such as presently available from Tesla is significantly safer than human drivers. I will propose legislation to enable self-driving cars in Virginia by setting a specific set of criteria that will license the car to drive. As self-driving cars are significantly safer than the primitive alternative, the car can be insured in case of accidents. If we have the best laws, then we will have self-driving cars first. This will allow the blind and quadriplegic to operate motor vehicles. I will propose legislation to allow doctors to prescribe anything. After the establishment of the FDA, the approval time for drugs went up by about a decade. Newer treatments in some cases are significantly better than legacy ones. This is one of the primary reasons that life expectancies are growing at about two months a year. The faster they can be brought to the sick, the better, longer, and healthier lives we can live. CRISPR technologies have the possibility to be more important to humanity than the transistor. It uses part of bacterial immune systems and can be used to edit the DNA in cells. It can remove mutations that are harmful to life. It can be used to modify immune cells to make them attack cancer. What it will do in the end, nobody knows as it is in its infancy. Allowing doctors to prescribe anything will accelerate this promising technology to Virginians significantly sooner than would be if we wait for the FDA to act.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | I believe that the only reason that Certificate of Public Need Laws (COPN) exist is that people don't know anything about them. They make it so if medical facilities want to expand, they have to be given permission from the state. Input is taken from the public, and their competitors. Can you imagine if your business needed permission from your competitors to open and expand? This would be bad enough if it were in any business, but this affects our medical care. My grandfather died of colon cancer. Colon cancer is preventable with colonoscopies, but the preparation is uncomfortable. A doctor wanted to bring virtual colonoscopies using a CAT scan to Virginia. Our states' COPN prevented him from opening and saving the lives of people. It is too late for my grandfather, but I will do everything in my power end this abomination of a law. COPNs are in about half of the states. Studies have found that states that have COPNs have higher medical costs, and lower quality of medical care. The COPNs do nothing more than KILL PEOPLE FOR PROFIT![8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This is the tenth amendment. It shows that the states are the boss, and Washington must only do what it is delegated. Washington is only delegated to: Tax Borrow Regulate international and interstate commerce Regulate immigration Regulate Bankruptcy Coin Money Standardize measurements Prosecute counterfeiting Establish a post office Have a patent and copy right office Have a supreme court Punish pirates Declare war and hire mercenaries Raise armies Maintain a navy Regulate the armed forces Calling up the militia Disciplining the militia Control the District of Columbia If what Washington is doing is not on the list, then they do not have the right to do it. Most of what Washington claims it has the right to do is derived from its right to regulate interstate commerce. If we pass laws that do not cross state lines, or violate the rights of our citizens, then anything Washington tries to do to stop it is unconstitutional.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | America has the best post-secondary educational system in the world. People from all over the world spend their life savings to send their children to go to an American school. Our K-12 system is not good compared to other industrialized nations. The one difference is choice. Your K-12 school is chosen for you based upon where you live. As a child my parents chose to move twice so I could have a good education. When I went to collage they did not have to move, I could chose any school that I wanted. Fixing this can make our K-12 system as good as our post secondary system. I will propose legislation for "Backpack Funding" educational money will be given to every child based on their age and special needs. This money will follow the child to any public school they go to. It does not matter what neighborhood, or city. If you want to go to a private or home school, then 75% of the money will follow them. Home school parents are already doing a service to the community, the least we can do is give them reimbursement for their expenses. Empowering parents to chose any school they want, also goes along with empowering teachers and principals. Successful teachers will have their methods spread faster, because the schools' funding depends on it. Principals will lose their jobs if they are not effective. In my district, there is an elementary school that is one of the top 250 in the nation. The only way to attend that school is by winning the lottery for a place in the school. If that program could expand and be copied in other schools, a higher percentage of students would get to "win" the education they desire.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | Virginia, like most states, draw legislative districts in a manner whose only purpose is to benefit the political party in power. First of all, as a Libertarian, I will not be part of a party power structure that will perpetuate this and could possibly be the deciding factor between the Democrats and Republicans if the elections turn out right. I will propose or co-sponsor legislation to require legislative districts to be compact, and not based upon voting histories of the people. Lines should be drawn with high affinity of city boundaries, only cross navigable waterways at bridges and ferries, and not split precincts except as a means to obtain the correct number of voters. If elected I will try and have an open source computer algorithm developed for fair redistricting. After the algorithm is shown to be fair with peer review in the mathematical community, I will author legislation to make this algorithm draw all legislative boundaries.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
| “ | Virginia needs to enact "Constitutional Carry" legislation. This will allow all people who are legal to possess a firearm the right to concealed carry them. Virginia will still issue concealed carry permits for reciprocity reasons. Terry McAuliffe started a great thing by restoring most civil rights to felons who have completed their sentences. I will propose or cosponsor legislation to make this permanent, but also include restoring the right to carry firearms.[8] | ” |
| —Michael D Bartley | ||
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 16, 2019
- ↑ Vote Bartley, "Press," accessed October 18, 2019
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Candidacy Requirements for the November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed March 21, 2017
- ↑ Daily Press, "Late entry Simonds still far behind Yancey in fundraising," September 22, 2017
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 November General Unofficial Results," accessed November 7, 2017
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 June Democratic Primary," accessed July 6, 2017
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 June Republican Primary," accessed July 6, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
