Jason Richards

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Revision as of 21:06, 21 May 2009

Jason Richards
Born	March 23rd, 1978 Pontiac, Michigan
Spouse	None
Children	None
Residence	Waynesville, North Carolina (2004-present) Rural Utah (2011 - present)
Profession	Political Consultant, Engineer
Religion	Lutheran
Political Party	Democratic

Jason Richards is an American Engineer, Businessman, Politician and Former Athlete. He was the Democratic Party Candidate for Shenandoah Valley Senate in 2010, but was defeated by David Summerville. He is most famous for his play as Defensive Back for the Virginia Tech Hokies from 1996 to 2000. He is the founder and sole current owner of Jason Richards Motorcycles, a Waynesville, North Carolina based small business. His most recent political job was as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager to Democratic House Leader (and his niece) Amanda Renzetti

Early Life

Jason Richards was born July 4th, 1978 in Pontiac, Michigan. He was the youngest of five children, and grew up trying to follow in his brothers footsteps. His three brothers all played high school and college football, so Jason grew up on the gridiron, starring on various pop warner teams throughout his youth.

In High School, Richards was a slightly above average student. He was president of his school's mechanics club. His biggest success was on the football field. To this day, he is considered one of the fifteen best defensive backs in Michigan High School Football history. He was highly recruited coming out of high school, and decided to go to emerging football powerhouse Virginia Tech. He started as a Freshman, and was all NCAA his sophomore, junior and senior years, the final year winning the Jim Thorpe Award (awarded annually to the best defensive back in the nation). He graduated in 2000 in the middle of his class, with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Post College

From 2000 to 2004, Jason Richards worked as a mechanic at a Blacksburg, Virginia auto dealership. This job provided Jason with invaluable mechanical experience, taking the theory he had immersed himself in during college and adding a practical element to it.

In 2004, Jason moved to Waynesville, North Carolina and started Jason Richards Motorcycles, a small business that makes high performance customized motorcycles. In addition to being the founder and sole owner, Jason is also the head engineer. The company has experienced explosive growth due to its high quality products, although it is still relatively small due to lack of capital and credit in the present economic crisis.

In 2006, Jason Richards worked as an unpaid volunteer for Heath Shuler's House campaign, running get out the vote operations in parts of Waynesville.

2010 Shenandoah Valley Senate Race

In 2010, Jason Richards ran for Senate from the Shenandoah Valley. His opponent was the Republican David Summerville. The campaign was hard fought, and many pundits have stated that the quality of campaigning was relatively even on both sides (with perhaps a marginal edge for Summerville). Richards's campaign suffered from a minor organizational problem, along with Summerville's superior strategy, resulted in a roughly 2% win for Summerville.

Respite from Politics

From his electoral defeat in 2010 until late 2011, Jason Richards lived completely isolated from the political realm. He split time between his house in Waynesville and a new house he had purchased in Utah. He worked as an independent engineering contractor for Kaine Industries for those years, developing as of yet unknown technology. Mostly staying out of the national spotlight, Richards only made infrequent media appearances to promote his motorcycle company.

Return to the Political Arena

Jason Richards's self imposed political exile ended in November 2011 when he was tasked with the single greatest enterprise that had ever been entrusted to him; managing the Renzetti! for America 2012 political campaign. He was initially reluctant to take the position, but upon the insistence of his older sister Elizabeth, Jason finally took the job. Richards managed the campaign to surprising wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, but eventually the campaign floundered, ending on a tactical error during the Western Primaries. After his niece's campaign ended, Jason returned to his engineering work, staying quiet for most of 2012 and 2013. His name reemerged in political circles once again in January 2014, when he became Chief of Staff to Renzetti, the position he holds to this day.

In 2014, Richards managed Amanda Renzetti's unsuccessful Senate campaign. With that electoral defeat, his political future is far from certain; speculation ranges from running for Shenandoah Senate again in 2016, to staying on as Renzetti's Chief of Staff, to outright retiring from politics again.

Electoral History