Nathaniel Richardson

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NS Nation Name: Dentali

Character Name: Nathaniel Richardson

Character Gender: M

Character Age: Born May 14th, 1965, Age 54

Character Height: 5’11”

Character Weight: 175lbs

Character Position/Role/Job: Governor of North Carolina, Former Congressman North Carolina’s 7th congressional district

Appearance: Noah Emmerich

Character State of Origin: North Carolina

Character State of Residence: North Carolina

Character Party Affiliation: Republican

Main Strengths: Rich, Strong Blue Collar appeal, Great Education and Economic Record, Family Connections, retail politics expertise, policy wonk

Main Weaknesses: Vain, divorced, vulnerable to more hardline and cultural conservatives, bad at making partnerships with other politicians, silver spoon background, boring,

Biography: (Minimum 2-3 paragraphs)

Glen was born to Patrice and Robert Richardson of whole owned a small realtor company in North Carolina, employing around a dozen people.

Nathaniel attended Duke University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics, then proceeding on and acquiring a Masters in Business Administration. During college, he worked as an intern with the office of a local Congressman and operated frequently in conjunction with the congressman's domestic affairs adviser. During this time, he also volunteered for other local candidates for office and generally involved himself in the democratic process as much as possible.

After college Richardson moved to DC to work as a political writer, often part time.  During this period he worked a number of odd jobs but eventually became a fitness instructor which eventually proved even better for making connections in politics.

Through a client he managed to get hired by the conservative advocacy group "America Tomorrow", becoming a full time writer for several years until the 2000 election when he took a position as one of the speechwriters for the Vice President in 2001. In 2004, Richardson returned to North Carolina, taking up a position with his family’s small business and working with local Republicans to build up connections.

In 2008, Richardson ran to unseat incumbent Democrat Peggy Epps in North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, winning 55% of the vote in part do to his family's positive name recognition in the area and his connections with the Vice President.  Shortly after his election, Nathaniel’s more moderate positions on social issues became evident.  He had frequently required whipping in order to pass measures on abortion restrictions past the first trimester and measures restricting gay marriage, whipping him was not difficult but it did require some effort.

While in Congress, he began championing education reform and joined the Committee on Education and the Workforce eventually coming to chair the committee after the 2010 election. He has consistently favored expanding merit pay for teachers and introducing ESA and voucher programs, and he was the author of the DC voucher pilot program.  All this notwithstanding Nathaniel is best known for being a policy wonk, he was the numbers guy who wrote numerous reforms to the tax code especially regarding small businesses and farmers and often brought up policy minuta on the floor of Congress that would have subtle impacts on legislation.

In 2012 he ran for Governor of North Carolina following the poor response to the recession pursued by the incumbent Democratic Governor.  Winning a narrow victory with the help of his extremely socially conservative lieutenant governor Richardson set about the reforms that made North Carolina the state it is today, focusing on Economy, Education and Healthcare.

Since his inauguration Richardson has committed strongly to fiscal conservatism, balanced budgets, low taxes and de-regulation.  As a result the economy has flourished, becoming the 10th largest in the country.  Unemployment dropped from close to 9% to 4% with steady job growth especially in the Professional and Business Services area, the labor market in NC is among the strongest in the nation.  Unfortunately NC remained low in terms of overall per capita income, hovering around the 40th in the nation.

Since 2013 North Carolina has had the fastest growing economy in the country with an average consistent 2% growth, between the first quarter of 2013 and the third quarter of 2015 (the most recent data we have), no state’s economic output grew as fast as North Carolina’s 13.4 percent rate.  Which Nathaniel credits to cuts in income taxes and unemployment benefits through work requirements.  Despite an estimate $4.4 billion in tax relief, North Carolina also has the fourth highest state government surplus per capita.

Using a combination of Education Savings Accounts and support for Charter Schools, Richardson has brought NC from 30th in the nation in terms of education to 25th.  The quality of public schools declined drastically but private institutions flourished, and more people could go than ever before.  Additionally Nathaniel has focused heavily on trade schools and job training for careers that do not require degrees, and as a result the number of Carolinians graduating every year with a college degree has gone down.

After receiving an ACA deferment, Nathaniel assembled a bi-partisan group and built a healthcare system for North Carolina called CCC “Carolina’s Choice Care” which emphasized personal choice, competition and healthcare exchanges while providing a basic safety net.  It has been of limited success in the 2 years it has been active but costs for healthcare have consistently (if slowly been reduced).

In 2013 Nathaniel married his campaign manager Amanda De Sousa, who continues to work on political campaigns throughout the state and region.  She has frequently been described as one of the most involved and influential first ladies of any state.

In 2014 Nathaniel vetoed the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act aka the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, specifically going after the provisions in the bill that kept LGBTQ indivduals from bringing discrimination cases to court.

In 2016 Nathaniel won re-election though faced a strong primary challenge by his own Lieutenant Governor who was critical of his veto of the bathroom bill and who finally who resigned after Richardson decided to remove some Confederate monuments from public spaces, placing them in museums and battlefields “Appropriate historical context” after incidents of white supremecist violence.  To appeal to religious voters Nathaniel pushed for some measures that limited Trasgender involvement in high school and college athletics in the state and placing strong religious freedom protections in place for businesses, additionally he increased restrictions to abortion including signing a 20 week abortion ban into law which was later declared unconstitutional by a court.  It was just enough of a bone to throw to put Nathaniel over the top, his excellent record regarding the economy and education lead him to a 60-40 primary win over his former lt governor.

Emerging bent but unbroken from the primary, Richardson found a resounding victory in the general on the back of a booming economy and strong education policy.  He owed this victory to a significant portion of African American voters either staying home or voting for him, additionally blue collar towns that typically voted democrat flipped for him, his victory was 53-47.

Since 2016 Nathaniel has stayed a bit more cautious in his measures, improving on the progress he had already made as Governor in his first term.  He has sought occasion to comment on national issues and even a few foreign policy stances, including being a strong advocate for Israel, taking a trip there to start a joint project between North Carolina and Israel.  Additionally he typically travels outside the state at least once a month to give lectures on college campuses throughout the country, campaign for Republicans and speak to Young Republican organizations on college campuses.  Recently he has been making trips to South Carolina and spoke at the “Politics and Eggs” breakfast in New Hampshire last year, leading many to suspect he has national ambitions.  He has a strong and growing twitter following during which he frequently posts short videos of himself signing bills and doing everyday tasks as governor in a lighthearted fashion (Gov Abbot style IRL).

52% approval rating and a 40% disapproval rating according to morning consult.

Nathaniel has been married twice, the split with his first wife was "amicable", but his wife has primary custody of their 18 year old daughter due to the nature of his political career. Nathaniel frequently visits his daughter who lives in Durham, North Carolina.  Nathaniel is known to be extremely fit, keeping a strict exercise routine and running several miles every morning, with a focus on cardio.  He is also a devout Methodist, attending church with his wife every Sunday and his daughter every other Sunday.

In late 2018 Richardson released an autobiography titled “Richardson: American Heart” which sold decently well and laid out his vision for the future of the country.  He has also kept extensive and candid diaries since his time in college intending on publishing them at the time of his death.

Other Info: Plays guitar decently