Election 2026 · Public beta

Independent, source-first accountability

TheStatedRecordFind a race
Back to the race record

Candidate record

J. Matt Baker

Independent candidate. The state's candidate list records him as not the incumbent, and the desk found no federal or state legislative office for him. Campaign affiliation: Independent.

Voter guide

Background, stated goals, record, and money

Background comes from official records, and from the campaign's own biography where the bullet says so; goals are summarized from the campaign's own platform and stay attributed; the record lines are official actions with the government source attached; money is shown as filed, with the filing window and the reconciliation in the note under the table, and is not evidence of why any position was taken.

J. Matt Baker

Background

  • Holds no office. Virginia's candidate list for this election records him as not the incumbent, and his campaign home page describes him as a retired Marine Corps colonel of 28 years and gives his Naval Academy class as '87. Virginia Department of Elections, Matt Baker for Congress
  • His platform describes him as an engineer who has worked on power systems for utilities and the Department of Defense. Matt Baker for Congress
  • His home page gives his reason for running outside both parties. Matt Baker for Congress

What they say they want to do

What the official record shows

  • Holds no legislative record this desk can compare: the desk found no federal or state legislative office for him. The state's own candidate lists, revised September 8 and September 10, 2026, record him in every locality of the district and not as the incumbent. Virginia Department of Elections, Virginia Department of Elections
  • Matt Baker for Congress filed its statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission, giving a Washington, DC address. It is the committee's only filing to date. Federal Election Commission

Campaign money from other committees, by type

Matt Baker for Congress has filed no report of receipts and disbursements. Its one filing with the Federal Election Commission is a statement of organization received July 22, 2026, and the commission carries no cycle totals for it, so there is nothing to group by type. Federal Election Commission

Issues in this record

Follow the evidence by issue.

Costs and the economyHealth careVeterans and the militaryGovernment accountability and money in politicsImmigration and the borderThe coast, flooding and the Chesapeake BayReproductive rightsMedicare, Social Security and retirement

Evidence timeline

Dated records, with sources attached.

  1. race event

    Official candidate list revised

    The Virginia Department of Elections revised its candidate lists for the November 3, 2026 general election, the federal-offices list on September 8 and the fuller all-offices list on September 10, each dated by the name of its own downloadable file. Read on September 13, both show the same four candidates for the 2nd District: Luria, Kiggans, Staten and Baker. The state has since replaced both files; the source note records what could and could not be read back.

    Virginia Department of Elections Virginia Department of Elections

  2. race event

    Baker's committee registered

    Matt Baker for Congress filed its statement of organization on July 22, 2026, its only filing to date.

    Federal Election Commission

  3. race event

    The seat changed hands

    Luria's second term ended and Kiggans's first began on January 3, 2023. Congress.gov records Luria for the 116th and 117th Congresses and Kiggans for the 118th and 119th, so every vote and sponsorship on this page belongs to one of them and to one side of that date.

    Congress.gov Congress.gov

See something wrong or incomplete? Report it for review.