Matt Strickland for Virginia State Senate

You've probably never heard of me, and if it wasn't for the Army, I probably wouldn't be alive today to even write you.

My name is Matt Strickland, and I'm running for Senate in Virginia.
Early voting has already started for my primary, and I could really use your help in this last stretch.

After my older brother was gunned down and killed, I escaped street violence by enlisting in the Army when I was 17.

I reported to my first duty station on September 10, 2001. The next day the Towers fell, and I spent the next decade fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. I went from dodging gangs to fighting terrorists . . . and it feels like I've never stopped fighting.

Let me tell you why . . .

After working for Blackwater and working several deployments as a combat medic, I came home and just wanted some peace with my family.

I bought a food truck and started doing what I loved. It was a hit, and me and my wife, Maria, expanded to a restaurant that we named Gourmeltz.

Life was good for a stretch, then the pandemic hit, and the government illegally ordered me to close my restaurant.

Now listen, I spent too much time fighting for our country to come home and be told that I couldn't provide for my family . . . that I had to shut the doors to my business and lay off the staff I worked so hard to hire and train.

Maria and I prayed about it. We talked to our staff, and then I talked to my kids.

We have three boys and a beautiful girl.

One of my boys is into comic books, and when I was in his room, I picked up one of them and there was Captain America with this quote . . .

❝ "Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the Politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something is wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world – 'No, YOU move.'"

And that's what I did.

The day after an order to shut down was posted on my door, I went to work that morning, opened up, and let the customers in.

The government revoked my permits, my liquor license and even raided the restaurant with armed agents . . . and I stood my ground and NEVER closed.

I took the government to court and finally won after nearly losing everything.

And that experience opened my eyes to our government and politicians, and that's why I'm running today and asking for your support.

Now, I'm running as a Republican but I'm not proud of a few of the spineless, establishment hacks I'll be serving with when I win.

These are the same folks that I contacted for help when I had a government boot on my neck . . . and they're the same folks who ignored me UNTIL I won.

And yeah, after I finally won, they all showed up. One even offered to fly a flag over the state Capitol in my honor. I told him, "No thanks."

I'm running to CRUSH THE ESTABLISHMENT . . . Republican or Democrat, I don't care. If they do nothing when the freedoms of Americans are taken away, they're all the same to me.

I'm running for Senate in Virginia to give a voice and two fists to all of the people just like us . . . who are powerless to the politicians and their government.