Richard Ojeda

“If you look at Middle America and the reason why it's so red is because the Democratic Party cannot relate to them. They definitely have not done anything to support people from where I come from in West Virginia.”

“I was raised here in Logan County, where I was blessed to be in a family that had over 200 years of United Mine Workers of America experience.”

“We're not really a state. We're a colony. Everything we've ever had - timber, coal - it's all been extracted out of our state. Our people have been here and have worked in those industries, and they remained poor, but the people outside of our state that are the ones that come and get the timber, get the coal, have become billionaires.”

“That border wall's not going to put one single West Virginian to work.”

“Patrick Morrisey means nothing to me. He is a bootlicker. If shoe polish was poison, he'd be dead.”

“We must look for leaders who have exhibited a lifetime of service to their communities and have proven that their intention is to help people.”

“I am a Democrat because I believe in what the Democratic Party is supposed to be: taking care of our working-class citizens.”

“I spent 24 years in the United States Army.”

“When I hear Ivanka Trump saying how she looks forward to working side by side with Gen. Kelly - a guy who's got 40 years' worth of experience leading troops all across the world - and she makes handbags, come on.”

“We need candidates who are deeply rooted in their communities, working-class people who understand the struggles their neighbors face. That is the future of the Democratic Party.”

“I will stand with unions wholeheartedly, and that's the problem - the Democratic Party wants to say that, but their actions do not mirror that.”

“The Democratic Party needs to take a stand against corporate greed.”

“Stand up for our sick. Stand up for our veterans. Stand up for the elderly. Protect things like Social Security. Stop allowing people to stick their hands in the cookie jar. Create opportunities for people who live in poverty to elevate themselves out of poverty with a hand up, not a hand out. That's what being a Democrat is!”

“I'm a combat soldier.”

“My state was blue through and through. The reason why my state went red is because my state is a hard labor state, and the Democratic party pulled pitch and ran away from this place and left our people to fend for themselves with nothing.”

“I'm trying to fight so that people can have better.”

“I'm a stubborn individual.”

“I will not take corporate money. I don't want it.”

“Where I come from, Big Pharma's the enemy.”

“You can't take a coal miner making $95,000 a year, the only work in these parts where you can support a family without having to hold down three jobs at once... and tell them, 'You can make minimum wage,' or, 'We can give you job training for jobs that don't exist in West Virginia.'”