Heather Curtis

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Heather Curtis
Image of Heather Curtis

Independent

Education

High school

Algona High School, 1991

Bachelor's

Luther College

Graduate

University of Kentucky, 1999

Personal
Profession
Chief operating officer, Fark.com

Heather Curtis (b. St. Paul, Minnesota) was an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election. Curtis and her running mate and husband, Drew Curtis, announced their candidacies on January 23, 2015.[1] Both candidates filed for the election on August 10, 2015.[2] The Curtis couple was defeated by Republican candidates Matt Bevin and Jenean M. Hampton.[3]

The ticket of Curtis and Curtis was running to build on the momentum of independent candidates in the 2014 elections. Learn more about their campaign themes by jumping to the campaign themes section.

Biography

Education

  • High school diploma, Algona High School (1991)
  • Undergraduate degree in psychology, Luther College
  • Master's in counseling psychology, University of Kentucky (1999)[4]

Career

Curtis worked with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family services for two years after graduating from Luther College. She later assisted Drew with the expansion of Fark.com and other business ventures. At the time of her candidacy, Curtis was serving as chief operating officer of Fark.com.[4]

Elections

2015

See also: Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2015

General election

Republican Matt Bevin and his running mate, Jenean M. Hampton, defeated Attorney General Jack Conway and independent Drew Curtis.[5]

Governor and Lieutenant Governor, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngMatt Bevin/Jenean M. Hampton 52.5% 511,771
     Democrat Jack Conway/Sannie Overly 43.8% 426,827
     Independent Drew Curtis/Heather Curtis 3.7% 35,627
Total Votes 974,225
Election results via Kentucky Secretary of State

Debates

Disqualified from debate

Curtis did not qualify for a lieutenant gubernatorial debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The September 23, 2015, debate at Midway University required candidates to meet a 10 percent polling threshold, and Curtis did not make the cut.[6]

While polling thresholds are common for debate rules in Kentucky, there was an unusual dearth of public polling in Kentucky. That meant that the debate largely relied on figures from the Bluegrass Poll from late July.[6]

Curtis and her husband Drew, running for governor, received 8 percent support in that poll, conducted before they turned in the signatures required to appear on the ballot.[7]

October debate with Hampton and Overly

Curtis faced off with Jenean Hampton (R) and Sannie Overly (D) in a debate in Lexington, Ky. The debate took place on October 13, 2015.[8]

Curtis said she would make mental health and small businesses a priority as lieutenant governor. She also said she would work with legislators to help process untested rape kits. She touted her listening ability as a strength that would help her in office:

“ Listening is a stereotypical skill of women, and if that’s what I can bring to Kentucky, I think I can do it well and I can do it in a really valuable way. Once you listen, you know what the problems are and you have a whole lot more ideas of how to solve them.[9] ”
—Heather Curtis, [8]

The other two candidates voiced their views to the media separately from the debate. Overly wrote in an email,

“ It’s important that we have women at the table when big decisions are being made. It helps ensure that Kentucky’s women and families have a true voice in the future of our Commonwealth.[9] ”
—Sannie Overly, [8]

She also wrote,

“ Having more women in elected office is the key to overcoming some of these challenges that we face. A female lieutenant governor will ensure that women have a strong voice in state government, and will have the opportunity to be an advocate for Kentucky’s women and families.[9] ”
—Sannie Overly, [8]

Hampton downplayed her status as a black woman as meaningful. She said, “I know I’m female, I know I’m black, but I don’t approach life as Jenean Hampton, female black person.” She added, “I’m in it because I believe I have something to offer to Kentuckians.”[8]

She also said that being a woman does not give her a special viewpoint.[8]

Should one of the three women running for lieutenant governor win the November 3 election, she will become the third female lieutenant governor in Kentucky history.[8]

Campaign finance

First quarter report (2015)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $3,712,481 and spent a total of $5,132,368.71 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on April 24, 2015.[10]

Fourth quarter report (2014)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $880,190.47 and spent a total of $545,733.73 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on February 3, 2015.[11]

Campaign themes

2015

Curtis' campaign website listed the following themes for the 2015 campaign:

“

We have a theory that we’re about to see a huge change in how elections and politics work. Across the country, we have seen regular citizens stepping up and challenging the status quo built by political parties and career politicians. They have been getting closer and closer to victory and, here in Kentucky, we believe we have a chance to win and break the political party stronghold for good.

We are not politicians. We are Citizen Candidates.

Citizen Candidates evaluate ideas on merit, not on outside influence, campaign contribution sources, or party ideology. They believe a good idea is a good idea, no matter which political party supports it. Citizen Candidates are regular people with common sense. They are capable leaders who would be fantastic elected officials - if they chose to run.

Most don’t. And we can’t blame them.

Political parties have shut out any outsiders from the process. But we think we see another way.

We're not the only ones either. In just 2014 alone, we saw the following:

- Bob Healey, an educator and political activist, ran for Governor of Rhode Island and won 22% of the vote - and spent just $35 to do it.
- Greg Orman, an entrepreneur and Independent candidate for Senate in Kansas, knocked the Democratic candidate out of the race and was polling close with the Republican incumbent the entire election.
- Columbia Law professor Tim Wu ran a campaign that almost put him on the Lt. Governor ballot for the November 2014 election.
- House of Representatives Majority Whip Eric Cantor was knocked out of the GOP primary by David Brat, a professor from Randolph Macon College.

None of these people were politicians.

All ran for office with the goal of finding a new way to seek elected office. And now we believe there is a path to victory in Kentucky and a chance to shatter the glass permanently. It goes beyond Kentucky though. Win or lose, our plan is to produce a blueprint others can use to get elected - in any state - without party help.

This campaign is important to everyone, not just citizens of Kentucky.

This is our chance. But it takes everyone’s help to make it happen. We are standing up against career politicians, political parties, special interests, and every group that thinks they deserve more influence than you.

Influence money can’t stop the power of citizens when they are unified.

In 2014, 1,000,000 people contacted the FCC in support of net neutrality – a policy that Big Telecom like AT&T and Comcast have been fighting for decades. They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fight it, and yet, none of it mattered once a million people voiced their support to the FCC. Now even the President has come out in support of it, addressing the issue in the State of the Union.

If we are ever going to change the tide...

...against special interests and political parties in our electoral process, we need that same kind of overwhelming support. We need more than just your votes. To remain viable in the face of so many forces trying to keep third party candidates out of the election, we need your financial support too. Citizen Candidates can’t raise money from special interest groups - because it doesn’t buy influence. We won’t cater to their demands. We need to raise it from their grassroots supporters, so please donate what you can.

If every voter gave their candidate just $5, special interest money would be powerless.

Not only does your financial support help us stay competitive, it proves legitimacy to the mainstream media. The deck has been stacked against us, but you can change that.

Not only do we want to win this election and shatter the electoral status quo, but we need to produce a blueprint so Citizen Candidates can win in all 50 states without political party support. [9]

”
—Drew Curtis' campaign website, (2015)

[12]

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Curtis was born in St. Paul, Minn., and was raised in Buffalo, Wyo., and Algona, Iowa. Her father was a Lutheran minister. She met her husband Drew at college in Decorah, Iowa. Heather volunteers for the Preeclampsia Foundation as manager of its online community.[4]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Insider Louisville, "Fark.com founder Drew Curtis says he’s running for governor of Kentucky," January 23, 2015
  2. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Information for Drew Curtis, Candidate for Governor," August 10, 2015
  3. ↑ [results.enr.clarityelections.com/KY/57510/156550/Web01/en/summary.html Kentucky Secretary of State, "Governor and Lieutenant Governor," accessed Nov. 4, 2015]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Drew Curtis for Governor, "About Heather," accessed January 26, 2015
  5. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Governor and Lieutenant Governor," accessed November 4, 2014
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named midway
  7. ↑ Sam Yougman, Kentucky.com, "Drew Curtis will join debate on Kentucky Sports Radio, but other fall debates look iffy," September 21, 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Lexington Souers, Kentucky Kernel, "Women candidates debate on campus," October 15, 2015
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  10. ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Candidate Search Results," accessed April 24, 2015
  11. ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Candidate Search Results," accessed February 3, 2015
  12. ↑ Drew Curtis for Governor, "Home," accessed January 26, 2015
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