Blake Michael

Michael was born in Anderson, Indiana. He earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 2016 and his MPA from the University of Oklahoma. As of his 2020 campaign, he was a part-time law student at the Fordham University School of Law. His career experience includes working as a middle school and high school teacher.[1]

Blake Michael did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2025 Candidate Connection survey.

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm an educator currently in my fourth year of teaching. I received my BA from Cornell University in Government and the College Scholar Program, the latter being an independent major which culminated in a senior project. My program was designed around immigration policy and my senior project investigated media bias in covering refugee migration.

I spent three years teaching in Oklahoma where I earned my MPA from the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa. During this time, I met my husband and married in Oklahoma City. We relocated after my husband got a middle school teaching job in Newark. I'm currently a part-time law student at Fordham University.

I come from a working class family and attended public school. My mother lost her home in the Great Recession and my father was forced to declare bankruptcy at a young age as he struggled to manage bills and student loans. Many members of my family have spent long periods of time uninsured and unable to pay for much-needed medical bills.

Having always taught populations comprised primarily of students who are immigrants or from immigrant families, I have witnessed firsthand the pain that recent immigration policies have caused.

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?

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Expanding the number and type of family members who can be sponsored by a U.S. citizen, a path to citizenship for DACA and TPS holders, and an abolition of quotas. Equitable Education Reform: Universal Pre-K, free school breakfast and lunch, mandating that all schools receiving federal funds reduce class sizes to fewer than 27, and doubling the amount of funding available through Title I.Healthcare for All: Expanding Medicare to include comprehensive mental/dental/vision benefits, requiring a public option as a minimum, funding federal production of generic drugs, and working to ensure universal coverage.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about removing the systemic barriers to progress that hold so many families back. From school funding to regional quotas, our national systems are designed to hold working people and people of color down. This is morally unacceptable and we all have a responsibility to fight for that which our communities deserve. As the youngest (or among the youngest) congressional candidates in the country, I feel a responsibility to test marketing and voter outreach strategies which will allow members of my generation to enter into politics at a younger age so that we are able to participate in solving the problems that our generation will inherit.

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

Any elected official must be willing not only to listen to others, but elevate them. So many politicians are so concerned about losing election that they are unwilling to pass the microphone, allowing others to advocate for themselves using the authority of the office. I am committed in my campaign to incorporate issues brought to me from community members (such as arguing for employment protections for natural hair and cultural hair styles) while simultaneously elevating voices from the community to bring attention to the issues that matter most.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to leave a legacy of respect for working people and an understanding that voters are worth more than their money. Candidates have a responsibility to fight for their district, raising people up with wages and the community up with donations. All of our interns are paid $15 an hour. 100% of the money left over when our campaign concludes- winning or losing- will be donated to charities within the community.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I am proud to come from a working class background. Although my first part-time job was detasseling corn, my first regular job was at McDonald's. In my region, jobs were extremely hard to come by. When my grandmother's factory closed, it took her a year to find a job making a fraction of her previous salary. As a single mother in her late fifties, she was forced to clean houses on her way home from work each night in order to keep from losing her house. When I was offered a job at a local McDonalds (approximately 30 minutes away), I felt lucky.

Working people do what we need to do in order to provide. I worked 20 hours a week during high school and was full time during the summer. After two years of working, my salary only increased twenty-five cents. I have tremendous respect for people who are working in service jobs, and I will fight for them to receive the wages that they deserve.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

The House of Representatives is a beautiful institution because it is so diverse. Given how small each district is, it's possible for a wide range of representatives to be elected in order to lend a voice to every generation, religion, etc. I believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that our national diversity is represented within the House.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

We are a nation grappling with extreme inequality. As our richest grow richer and our poorest grow poorer, our social fabric is beginning to wear thin and threatens to spill out into more mainstream forms of ideological extremism. Nativism, racism, xenophobia, gun violence: These are all symptoms of a larger distrust that is being spread by hateful and self-serving politicians. My generation is losing faith in democracy: It is our responsibility to restore it.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Were each election truly a referendum on a district's priorities in a candidate, I would disagree with term limits; however, given how congressmen today are able to build a war chest that enables them to win re-election without expending the same amount of effort a challenger must invest, I strongly believe in term limits. If I am elected, I will not serve more than 12 years (equal to two senate terms) in order to set a precedent for the district.