Holly Richardson is a conservative political activist who writes an award-winning blog covering Utah and national politics. Known as “Holly on the Hill,” she has been on Utah’s Capitol Hill during the annual legislative session for the last decade.
As a blogger, she has developed relationships with legislators, reporters and many others involved in the political process. She also teaches and consults on social media usage on a regular basis. She is well-known for her straight-forward nature and her genuine interest in people and the process. She has been a weekly guest on the conservative talk show “Red Meat Radio” and regularly joins Rod Arquette and Chris Vanocur to discuss the political landscape.
Trained as a registered nurse and subsequently as a midwife, she got her feet wet in politics when she fought to for an issue that she believed needed to be addressed in Utah law – the legalization of direct-entry midwives. Holly became a “citizen activist,” logging thousands of volunteer hours on that one issue alone. She organized and mobilized hundreds of grassroots supporters, most of whom had never been involved with politics prior to that point. In 2005, the Licensed Direct-Entry Midwife Licensure Act passed the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor. Until her recent election as a State Representative, she served as the Chair of the Licensed Direct-Entry Midwifery Board.
She also has been actively involved with political campaigns. She has experienced just about every role possible on a campaign, from mailing postcards, to communications, to scheduler and recently, as candidate. She has worked on both large and small races and remains committed to doing what she can to get the best candidate elected.
Holly has served within the Republican Party as both a county and state delegate, as a volunteer social media coordinator for the Utah state GOP, a precinct vice-chair, a precinct chair and as a legislative district chair for District 57.
She and her husband, Greg, have been married for almost 25 years and live in Pleasant Grove, UT with their large family. Driven by reports of tens of thousands of children abandoned in orphanages in Romania, they began their adoption journey in 1991. Holly spent months in Romania to adopt two little girls. Over the next 17 years, they adopted 20 children from 8 different countries (including the US). Those 20 joined the 4 children born to Greg and Holly. They saved and prioritized their spending to fund their adoptions and were able to stay out of debt while doing so. They continue to value self-reliance, responsibility, accountability and patriotism and work to share those values with their children. Their multi-cultural family was recently featured on Mormon Times.
As the Representative for District 57, she has pledged openness and transparency in her actions as a legislator as well as an emphasis on outreach and communication with the constituents of her district. She believes that entitlement reform is the fundamental issue of our day. It is way past time for an increase in personal responsibility and accountability and an end to the me, me, me era of entitlements.
In case you were wondering, she also thinks it’s pretty weird to blog about herself in the third person.
