Michael Rivera (Virginia)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Michael Rivera

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 7, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1988

Graduate

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1999

Personal

Birthplace

New York

Religion

Christian

Profession

Public servant

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Michael Rivera ran for election for an at-large seat of the Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. He lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Biography

Michael Rivera was born in New York. Rivera earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1988 and 1999, respectively. His career experience includes working as a public servant.

Elections

2023

See also: Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia, elections (2023)

General election

General election for Loudoun County Public Schools, At-large

Anne Pogue Donohue defeated Michael Rivera in the general election for Loudoun County Public Schools, At-large on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Anne Pogue Donohue (Nonpartisan)	53.2	71,432
		Michael Rivera (Nonpartisan)	46.3	62,115
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	698

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 134,245
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Denise Corbo (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Rivera received the following endorsements.

• Loudoun Co. Sch. Brd. Memb. Tiffany Polifko (Nonpartisan)
• Henry Eickelberg - Loudoun Cnty. Treasurer cand.
• Loudoun County, Va., Republican Party
• Loudoun County Republican Women's Club
• Virginia Citizens Defense League
• Virginia Muslim Business Chamber
• Virginians for Common Sense

Ratings

Rivera received ratings or grades from the following organizations.

• iVoterGuide
• Virginia Citizens Defense League

2022

See also: Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia, elections (2022)

General election

Special general election for Loudoun County Public Schools, Leesburg District

Erika Ogedegbe defeated Michael Rivera and Lauren Shernoff in the special general election for Loudoun County Public Schools, Leesburg District on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Erika Ogedegbe (Nonpartisan)	40.5	6,355
		Michael Rivera (Nonpartisan)	31.3	4,911
	Submit photo	Lauren Shernoff (Nonpartisan)	27.9	4,382
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	58

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,706
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tom Marshall (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2023

Michael Rivera did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Other survey responses

Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Rivera completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.

• iVoterGuide
• Loudon Times-Mirror
• The Washington Post

2022

Michael Rivera completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rivera's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Michael Rivera and I am running for the Loudoun County School Board in the Leesburg District. I have over 15 years IT experience, 8 years commercial construction project management experience, and 8 years as a public servant. I am a parent of two wonderful children and husband to my wife of 16 years. I decided to run for the board because I am witnessing the decline of an education system that has let the public down and is doing a disservice to all children.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Protect and preserve parent rights
• Focus public school back to academic instruction away from identity politics
• Stop the over sexualization of children in k-12

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am an ardent supporter of parent's rights and limiting the power/authority of school boards to exclude parents in the education of their children. Curriculum should be developed to focus on academic instruction and away from politic ideologies and personal agendas.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to individuals that have achieved inner peace and are able to deal with challenging issues with wisdom and logic. It is not easy to maintain calm in tough life situations but I admire people that can. My brother in law possesses those qualities.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Elected officials need to stay true to the constitution in that they exist only to serve the people and they gain all of their authority from the people. Politicians must remain humble and remember their oaths of office.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Pragmatism, logic, and fairness

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Focus on education of children.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to people to see me as an individual that was always willing to listen and to compromise for fair solutions.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

911 Terrorist Bombing - I recall exactly where I was when America was attacked and I am proud of how the entire country came together to combat a common enemy.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

To make sure that the resources within the school system are laser focused on educating k-12 children and to make sure that parents are an integral part of the education of their children.

Who are your constituents?

The children, parents, and taxpayers of Loudoun County

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

With a focus on education, the school board should work to remove barriers to education and to make sure ALL students are afforded adequate resources and facilities to thrive. I believe that although communities may be separated by race or ethnicity that ALL people need to be treated equally and that ALL children in public school deserve a high quality education regardless of socio-economic status.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

I think that communities that are not english speakers, families with non-citizens (parents and children), and economically disadvantaged communities are sometimes not given the attention and resources they need to thrive. It is critical that financial resources are allocated across these groups to make sure that students in the entire county are treated equally.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

I think it is critical to recruit QUALIFIED faculty, staff, and admin as opposed to seeking to add people just because of skin color or ethnicity.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

Identity politics, personal agendas, racist dogma, and ideologies have corrupted the public school system and are the main obstacle to educating children. These items have no place in public education and they need to be removed from the public education system.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

Good teaching should be measured by outcomes of student competency, standardized tests, college admissions, and employment statistics. Public schools need to understand and appreciate that there are a multitude of learning styles and that all kids are not destined for higher degrees and that vocational education is a critical part of overall public education.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

I believe that the vocational and technology options need to be expanded for students to allow for employment options post graduation. I think that given the opportunity, retired trades people and others would be willing to come to schools to teach students valuable life skills and trades.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

Each and every dollar of the school budget needs to be justified in terms of direct impact to educating children to resist temptation to create bloated administration while sacrificing teachers, tutors, and classroom aides.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

Children should be safe in schools, laws should be enforced, the juvenile justice system should be allowed to deal with juvenile criminal issues, and school officials should not have the discretion to determine if they believe acts are criminal or not.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

Licensed mental health resources should be available for children to be utilized only after consultation with and getting permission of parents.

What are your views on how to address schooling during pandemic times?

In the previous pandemic school systems were being driven by teacher unions and politicians to close schools and violate rights of students and parents. Schools need to actually follow real science and keep politics outside of the classrooms and administration.

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

Parents need transparent communication and the ability to provide feedback to the board. Town hall meetings, social media, and personal interaction are critical to building those relationships to establish and maintain trust.

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.

See also

2023 Elections

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Candidate

Loudoun County Public Schools, At-large

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