“Good Afternoon! My friends, my fellow Americans… I want to thank you all for joining me here today… For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Nathaniel Richardson, I’m a lifelong citizen of Chesapeake and I was born right here in Youngstown, Ohio. I grew up in a union household, grew up in the church, grew up while deployed overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan. And all those experiences shaped who I am today, taught me to be a grateful American who values community, family, and the God Given rights protected in Our Constitution.”
“When I came home from the war I wanted to continue the service to my community, I became a lawyer for the Transport Workers Union of America. Now I have a family of my own and I want to continue my service, not just for the citizens of today but for my children and their children. After speaking with my family and after much prayer and reflection, I have decided the best way to do that is to stand before you tonight with humility, with gratitude, and with a deep sense of responsibility, and announce my candidacy for the Governorship of Chesapeake.”
“As your Governor I will continue the fight I have been fighting my entire professional career, a fight for working people. When I travel Chesapeake I meet people who get up before the sun rises, lace up their boots, and go to work building this country with their hands, their skill, and their pride. Those men and women are the backbone of America, and many of them are proud union members. I believe unions are not just part of our economic story—they are central to the promise of the American dream. For generations, organized labor has helped workers earn fair wages, safe working conditions, and the dignity that comes from knowing your work is valued. When unions are strong, the middle class is strong. And when the middle class is strong, America is strong. “
“At a time when wealth is concentrated at the very top of our society, an increasingly powerful and isolated group of oligarchs manipulating us against one another, it is more important than ever for working people to band together through unions and other groups to fight back, because the truth is that is the only way we are going to affect change. Positive Change is won from the powerful, not given by the powerful. Unions are who got us the 40-hour workweek, weekends with our families, safer job sites, and benefits that give workers security when times get tough.”
“But we cannot rest and be content with what came before, previous generations who believed deeply in the future of America built this country and it's our turn to carry that forward. Much like how they built unions they built roads and bridges that connected our great state and our great country. It's now time to invest in the future, I believe infrastructure is about more than concrete and steel—it’s about opportunity. When we repair a bridge or modernize a rail line, we’re not just fixing something broken; we’re unlocking growth for entire communities.”
“Making it easier for small businesses to ship products, help families commute safely, and make our state a better target for investment. The investments we make today in clean energy, modern transit, resilient power grids, and high-speed broadband will define the strength of our economy for decades to come. Imagine rural towns fully connected to the digital economy. Imagine ports and freight lines that move American goods faster and cheaper than anywhere else in the world. This is how we build a new America which works for the working people of this country, not just an efficient America concerned with filling the pockets of the rich and powerful, but one where working people can feel security and pride.”
“In the book of Proverbs, it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”, its not enough to just maintain a flawed, perhaps broken, system we need to see a new future. And the vision I have for Chesapeake is one where economic growth doesn’t just come from boardrooms or government offices—it comes from workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and communities working together. When we invest in apprenticeships, technical education, and job training, we’re giving the next generation the tools they need to succeed. When we support small businesses and encourage American manufacturing, we strengthen the backbone of our economy. And when we protect the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively, we make sure prosperity is shared by the people who create it.”
“As your governor every decision I make, every policy I pursue will be focused on one simple vision ‘More opportunity for working people’. Does this build an economy that make it easier for the hard working people of this state to support a family, buy a home, and retire with dignity? Does it help people who are going through a tough time? This vision is why I will be pursuing the creation of good paying jobs in manufacturing, energy, technology, construction and the trades. It means making sure those jobs arent going to be shipped overseas or stolen by AI, and that those jobs give the wages and benefits people deserve.”
Franklin Roosevelt once said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Let our faith and our history guide us, inspire us, and ultimately challenge us to do better. If you share this vision of a better Chesapeake, a better America, if you want to build a place that works for working families then please consider supporting my campaign. God Bless You, God Bless the Great State of Chesapeake and God Bless the United States of America!