Richard Tatem
2022 - Present
2026
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Richard Tatem is a member of the School District of Manatee County school board in Florida, representing District 5. He assumed office on November 22, 2022. His current term ends on November 17, 2026.
Tatem (Republican Party) ran for election to the Florida House of Representatives to represent District 72. He lost in the Republican primary on August 20, 2024.
Tatem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Richard Tatem was born in Dayton, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1984 to 2018. He earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1988 and a graduate degree from Middlebury College in 1990. He graduated from the French Political Science Institute in 1989. His career experience includes working on intergovernmental task forces and as a military officer.[1]
Tatem has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Hillsdale College
- The Heritage Foundation
- The American Center for Law and Justice
- American Legion
- Republican Liberty Caucus
- Moose Lodge
Elections
2024
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 72
Bill Conerly defeated Lesa Miller in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 72 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Bill Conerly (R)  | 65.0 | 70,686 |
 | Lesa Miller (D) | 35.0 | 38,139 | |
| Total votes: 108,825 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Lesa Miller advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72
Bill Conerly defeated Richard Tatem, Alyssa Gay, and Richard Green in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 72 on August 20, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill Conerly | 31.1 | 6,172 |
 | Richard Tatem | 28.1 | 5,587 | |
 | Alyssa Gay | 22.5 | 4,472 | |
| Richard Green | 18.3 | 3,645 | |
| Total votes: 19,876 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Tommy Gregory (R)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
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To view Tatem's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Tatem in this election.
2022
See also: Manatee County School District, Florida, elections (2022)
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for School District of Manatee County school board District 5
Richard Tatem won election outright against incumbent James T. Golden and Chantal Wilford in the primary for School District of Manatee County school board District 5 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Richard Tatem (Nonpartisan) | 50.5 | 12,041 |
 | James T. Golden (Nonpartisan) | 33.1 | 7,882 | |
| Chantal Wilford (Nonpartisan) | 16.5 | 3,925 | |
| Total votes: 23,848 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Richard Tatem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tatem's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Rich Tatem here, Colonel, retired, USAF. I am a Manatee County school board member, and a candidate in the Republican primary election for Florida State House district 72. I would like to thank Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells for endorsing me in this election! Please support him for his re-election. Tommy Gregory, the district 72 incumbent and a USAF Academy graduate like me, just became the President of the State College of Florida. He is not running for re-election. To learn more about why I am the most qualified candidate for this seat, please go to richtatem.com.
My career includes a wide variety of experiences: military pilot and airline pilot; college professor; HQ Air Force Reserve Command Planning, Budgeting, and Execution Directorate; leadership educator and workshop facilitator and executive leadership coach. I also wrote and published a book on the Founding Fathers (Interviews With The Founders - the way American is now and the way America is supposed to be), and I had a patriotic radio show and podcast for two years.
FYI – I am involved as a community volunteer. I have been delivering food, on a weekly basis, to schools during the school year, for FELT (Feeding Empty Little Tummies) for 2 years. And, I am not funded by builders.
- Illegal immigration must stop! The burdens, especially financial, that it is putting on our local communities is unacceptable, and state and federal authorities must work better together to stem the tide. Elections matter - and it is elected officials who will decide how much effort and cooperation will take place at the state and federal levels on illegal immigration. In the state house, I pledge to work with the governor to support and fund his efforts to combat illegal immigration.
- The cost of building traditional public school must come down! Funding for building public schools is almost completely locally generated, and the local tax base and rate cannot keep up with these rising costs. Changes must be made to the SREF (State Requirements for Educational Facilities) code to allow school building costs to be more in line with charter school building costs (charter schools are not bound by the SREF). Making changes to the SREF will save billions of dollars of tax-payer funds across Florida. Additionally, unfunded/partially funded mandates from the state create additional tax burdens on local jurisdictions, so these types of mandates must be stopped and repealed.
- The state must do a better job of fast-tracking infrastructure projects so that they are in place before growth happens. Taking this action is the primary way that the state can assist with "smart growth."
- Reducing taxes: lowering school building costs, eliminating the commercial rent tax, raising the business property tax exemption
- Combating woke education and protecting female spaces and sports
- Protecting property rights while at the same time maintaining ample green space in Florida with conservation easements and acquisition of land for parks and preserves.
- My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: his Sermon on the Mount, along with the Ten Commandments, is the foundation of Judeo-Christian values
- Ronald Reagan - principled conservative, strong communicator, man of high integrity
- Thomas Sowell - a 94 year old black economist who fights ardently against wokeness and victimhood
Please read the book I wrote on the Founding Fathers: "Interviews With The Founders - the way America is now, and the way America is supposed to be" - available on Amazon. Also, I am very much in agreements with the political, economic, and cultural ideas of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell.
- A thorough understanding of constitutions, both at the federal and state level, is necessary for elected officials. The Declaration of Independence says that governments are instituted among people to preserve their rights. When elected officials take a constitutional oath, that is their primary responsibility.
- Experience in a wide variety of areas and at high levels of leadership: especially at the state and federal levels, elected officials will have to learn about a plethora of different subjects and then integrate that information into legislation and voting decisions. There is no substitute for this type of experience.
- Elected officials must demonstrate the highest ethical and moral standards.
- Elected officials must have good communication and leadership skills, because success as an elected official almost always requires coalition building.
Based on a 30 year career in the Air Force, rising to the rank of colonel; on my work as a leadership educator and executive coach; and on my experience in elected office as a school board member, I possess a high level of maturity, experience, and wisdom: qualities that are necessary for elected office.
- Protect constitutional rights
- Minimize the burden of the administrative state on the citizens - thereby minimizing tax burdens
- Ensure fiscal soundness of state budgets
- Be an advocate for constituents when dealing with government bureaucracies
At the end of my service in the Florida state house, I would like to know that I accomplished the following actions:
- lowered taxes by bring down the cost of building schools, by eliminating the commercial rent tax, and by raising the business property tax exemption
- reduced the administrative and financial burden on citizens by eliminating unfunded/partially funded mandates
- maintained the highest of ethical standards and built good relationships with my colleagues
The attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. I was 15 at the time
Lifeguard at a pool. 2 years.
The Bible - the wisdom of the ages is contained therein.
After the Bible, "A Conflict of Visions" by Thomas Sowell.
Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings.
"Made in American" by Toby Keith - God rest his soul!
Overcoming the natural human tendency to be self-focused. Self-focus is a mammalian survival instinct, so it comes naturally. Humans need to be aware of this tendency and to overcome it with high order emotional awareness.
There should be a strong personal and professional relationship between the governor and legislative leadership. These good relationships will help to avoid legislative gridlock and vetoes. Leadership more often than not comes down to good relationships.
- Having adequate infrastructure in place before growth happens
- Providing adequate health care facilities and caregivers for an aging population
- Protecting greenspaces and water quality in the face of increased growth
Yes: while "career politicians" are not desirable, having an understanding of the legislative process, tax codes, and even Robert's Rules of Order are necessary to be an effective state legislator.
In my leadership work, one of my main mantras is "the number one reason people don't trust each other is because they don't know each other." To build trust, good relationships must be built so that people will get to know each other.
Ronald Reagan: strong conservative, great communicator, high level of integrity
Not at this time
Here is an excerpt from a local newspaper about me:
"A few weeks ago, on a weeknight, I attended a parents meeting at Lakewood Ranch High School. Parents, teachers and band directors were concerned the board was going to cut funding to the music programs.
Richard Tatem attended the meeting and did something quite shocking: He actually listened to everyone's concerns and took notes. He did exactly what an elected official is supposed to do: He was present for the people he represents.
I have a daughter involved in the band program at a local high school, and the following morning I emailed Tatem to express my appreciation for what he did. Tatem immediately returned my email, and he couldn't have been more genuine."
I take pride in being an advocate for my constituents, my customers. Find the whole article here: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/opinion/columns/2023/10/18/when-did-the-manatee-school-board-stop-fighting-in-parking-lots/71212890007/
I was asked "why did the chicken cross the road?"
I replied, "I don't know, I am not a chicken!"
The legislature should severely restrict emergency powers, and it should provide frequent oversight if those powers are ever implemented. Covid showed that unfortunately (though not so much in Florida), the temptation of power to violate constitutional rights is too much to handle for some elected officials.
Reform of the SREF (state requirements for educational facilities) code to help bring down the skyrocketing cost of building traditional public schools will be first planned bill. Without this reform, the cost of building public schools will soon bankrupt local jurisdictions.
- The county sheriff, Rick Wells
- Conservative Watch USA
- Florida Family Action
- Bikers for Trump
- Bikers for 45
Education, infrastructure, regulatory reform, healthcare, agriculture and natural resources
I support a high level of financial transparency and government accountability because the citizens are the customers of government, and therefore being financially transparent and accountable are required for good "customer service."
I support making it somewhat more difficult to change the state constitution. Many "constitutional amendments" should have been left to the representatives of the people to decide in the legislature. Frequent and minor changes to constitutions are not good for stable governance.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
Richard Tatem did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Florida House of Representatives District 72 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James T. Golden |
School District of Manatee County school board District 5 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
