He voted for Trump. Now he's running as his foe in West Virginia's coal country

Authored by www-m.cnn.com and submitted by worksomemore
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Lewisburg, West Virginia (CNN) — Richard Ojeda is not a typical Democratic congressional candidate.

The heavily tattooed former Army paratrooper stomps around southwestern West Virginia in tight Grunt Style t-shirts, tactical pants and combat boots. He included his own cell phone number -- and a promise to answer it -- in his campaign kick-off video . In place of "hello" or "goodbye," his go-to greeting is "Airborne."

And he voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

Related Video: Democrat explains why he voted for Trump 01:21 Related Video: Democrat explains why he voted for Trump 01:21

Ojeda -- pronounced Oh-jed-uh -- is now running for Congress in a district Trump won by 49 percentage points on the message that the President has largely failed to deliver on his economic promises. Perhaps that's why at a recent rally in West Virginia, Trump singled out Ojeda, calling him "a total whacko."

"Right now it seems that it's a circus. It's all about Twitter," Ojeda said of Trump in a recent interview in Lewisburg, where he spent several days at the state fair. "Dude, you're the President. Don't worry about that. Focus on elevating this country."

Valridagan on October 3rd, 2018 at 19:20 UTC »

Holy crap, THIS is the person who started the Teacher's Strike?! Woah. This guy DEFINITELY has his heart in the right place, at least by West Virginia standards.

B45T4RD on October 3rd, 2018 at 14:02 UTC »

Polls in recent weeks have shown Ojeda in a single-digit race behind Republican Carol Miller. And national Democrats see Ojeda's previous support for Trump -- and the reasons he turned on the President -- as part of what makes him an appealing candidate.

"It's pretty simple the role that he fills: He is the return of the Democratic Party to really being the champion of the people. Not Wall Street, not Silicon Valley, not any corporate interest -- but really fighting for working people in every community,"

B45T4RD on October 3rd, 2018 at 13:59 UTC »

This guy was in Michael Moore’s new documentary, and despite what people are saying in this thread about how he’s an “opportunist” or whatever, the interview he did with Moore shows that he really does care and wants to help. IIRC he only voted for Trump because he thought that he’d bring jobs back.

Guys, you can’t just turn your back on everyone who voted for Trump. If he regrets it, embrace it! Nobody wants to be on the side of people who resent them for making a mistake even when they regret it.