Ted Blaszak has been actively involved in politics on both a national and local level for over 20 years. Recognizing that conservatives have been dominating ballots throughout the country with one harmful initiative after another, Ted founded Democracy Resources in 1999 to help progressives fight back.

 

With a firm belief in the power of direct democracy to make positive changes in public policy and improve the lives of working families, Ted and his company have since placed dozens of measures on ballots across the nation from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine.

 

Born into a working class Massachusetts family, Ted graduated from American University with degrees in political science and philosophy before attending graduate school at Penn State.

 

Since then, he’s worked on too many campaigns to mention, ranging from County Commissioner races to national presidential campaigns. He's worked for the Democratic Party in Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Arizona and was an external organizer on a card drive for SEIU.

 

He has volunteered for Jobs With Justice, been an intern for the DNC, a vice president of the Columbia Group/Sierra Club, a board member of NARAL, and a student organizer for NOW.
 

Steeped in the culture of peaceful protest and dissent, Ted has been arrested outside the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility, driven a giant fish across the country for Save Our Wild Salmon, built shanties to protest apartheid, and marched from Philadelphia to Washington DC in an effort to help end the nuclear arms race.
 

These days, Ted and his wife Debra, a specialist in the field of child abuse recovery and prevention, live with their daughter Bailey and son Wyatt in their family home just south of Portland, Oregon. They like to visit the beach, go to amusement parks, and garden.