Richard Ojeda figured out that Congressmen don’t get elected president. Failed candidates for Congress certainly don’t get elected president. (What about Congressmen who fail to get elected Senator? Raise 6 million dollars in 24 hours, you are in a different category.)
Richard Ojeda is different. He is the most colorful of those who considered running and then didn’t. He has a combative military record. He led troops in combat. Then had the troops fight one another. He has Trumpish disdain for those he disagrees with. It is corporations and lobbyists for whom he has disdain. As a state rep, he kicked lobbyists out of his office.
Something of a Bernie figure from West Virginia. Like Bernie, he had to make adjustments in his views of women. He had a head start in making connections with minorities. He grandfather was Mexican. His father was born in the US, but lived in Mexico for several years. Ojeda made his adjustment to West Virginia. He pronounces his name Oh Gee Da. Maybe that’s not a head start after all.
Ojeda gets it. He is not in a position to run for president. There is no path for him. Will there be a path somewhere for him in West Virginia? Not easy. The border states don’t welcome Democrats right now. Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, West Virginia seem tougher for Democrats than Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Still, Ojeda is too colorful and interesting to go away altogether.