MATT BAKER
Independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. A Marine veteran running on the conviction that party discipline has silenced legislators and abdicated the basic duty to legislate, negotiate and compromise.
Operational Background
The Case for Independence
“It is time to make the people and the country, not the party, the priority.”
The Core Problem
“It is time to make the people and the country, not the party, the priority.”
Matt Baker · Marine Veteran · Norfolk, Virginia
Where He Stands
Priorities for Norfolk, Virginia
Legislate Again
Party candidates fear that crossing the party costs them money and their seat. That fear has produced an abdication of the basic duty to legislate.
Negotiate and Compromise
Both parties embrace chaos and polarization over the common good. Neither offers a solution.
The Debt
A national debt grown to $40 trillion over 36 years, which he argues neither party will change.
The Race
Why It Matters
- A Marine veteran running outside a system he says silences its own members.
- Congress’s basic duties — legislate, negotiate, compromise — as the campaign’s core.
- The national debt treated as a structural failure of both parties, not a talking point.
The Opportunity
Virginia’s 2nd District gets a candidate who owes nothing to either party’s money or leadership — and who frames the debt and legislative paralysis as the same problem.