Richard H. Robinson (California politician)

Richard H. Robinson (born May 17, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American politician from California and a member of the Democratic Party.

A veteran of the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War era, Robinson was director of Operation Drug Prevention of Orange County when he ran for California State Assembly in 1974. He defeated 6-term incumbent John Quimby in the Democratic primary and then went on to easily beat his Republican opponent, University of Southern California football and NFL veteran Marlin McKeever.

He easily won reelection in 1976, 1978 and 1980 and would go on to serve as Majority Caucus Chair from 1982-84.

Running in a redrawn district in 1982, Robinson won reelection with 56.2% of the vote over Republican Dick Longshore who managed 43.8%. Longshore ran against Robinson again in 1984 and this time, with Ronald Reagan at the top of the ticket, scored 49.8% of the vote.

This prompted Robinson to abandon reelection in 1986 and instead run for congress against Rep. Bob Dornan (R-Santa Ana), who had ousted Democratic incumbent Jerry M. Patterson two years earlier. Dornan beat Robinson by almost 13 points after a bruising, million dollar campaign.

Meanwhile, Longshore won Robinson's now open assembly seat, defeating Democratic Santa Ana mayor Daniel E. Griset by more than 10 points.