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Nick Freitas

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Nick Freitas
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 30th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 13, 2016
Preceded byEd Scott
Personal details
Born (1979-08-29) August 29, 1979 (age 45)
Chico, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseTina Freitas
Children3
EducationHenley-Putnam University (BA)
WebsiteCampaign website
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1998–2009
Rank Sergeant First Class[1]
Unit1st Special Forces Group
Battles/warsIraq War

Nicholas J. Freitas (born August 29, 1979)[2] is an American politician who is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and a candidate for the US Senate in 2018. He was first elected in 2015, and represents the 30th district comprising Madison County, Orange County, and the Southern half of Culpeper County on behalf of the Republican Party. Freitas is a United States Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq.[3]

Early life and education

Freitas was born in Chico, California, on August 29, 1979. After graduating high school, Freitas joined the United States Army. He also during this time graduated at Henley-Putnam University.[4]

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Freitas joined the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and served two tours in Iraq. After being honorably discharged in 2009, Freitas moved to Culpeper County, Virginia in 2010 and served as an operations director for a service-disabled veteran-owned company.[5]

Political career

Freitas became the chairman of the Culpeper County Republican Committee in 2010. In 2015, Freitas ran for the Virginia House of Delegates for the 30th district, then held by Republican Ed Scott. After Scott announced his retirement, Freitas was unopposed in both the Republican primary and the general election, and took office in January 2016.[6][7] He ran for re-election in 2017 and won with 62% of the vote over Democrat Ben Hixon.[8]

Freitas had made critical comments on Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. In deleted social media posts in 2015 and 2016, Freitas had called Trump a "5 time draft deferring ‘tough guy’" who would "take some candy from a small child...or maybe kick a kitten" and said Trump is not the candidate for “liberty minded conservatives".[9]

Freitas field operations director Mark Kevin Lloyd has come under scrutiny for making derogatory remarks about women.[10]

According to a December 2017 article in InsideNoVa.com, Freitas "wasn’t quite willing to echo the president’s call to 'build a wall' along the Mexican border" but "he did stress that he wants to see some sort of change to what he sees as the country’s 'incredibly porous borders.'[11]

Freitas currently serves on the Finance, Militia, Police, and Public Safety, and Science and Technology Committees.[2]

Freitas is seeking the Republican nomination for the 2018 Senate election in Virginia.[12] He has been endorsed by Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee.[13]

In a fiery speech given in March 2018 on the floor of the House of Delegates, Freitas voiced opposition to further gun control proposals following the Parkland, Florida school shooting.[14] The speech drew over 11 million views on Freitas' Facebook page.[15]

Political views

In the House of Delegates, Freitas has a "conservative voting record and libertarian streak."[16]

Personal life

Freitas is a Protestant Christian and attends Mountain View Church in Culpeper. He is married to Tina M. Pierce, whom he met in high school. The couple has three children: Lillyana, Luke, and Alexandria. In addition, Freitas is a member of the Heritage Foundation and the National Rifle Association (NRA).[4][17]

References

  1. ^ RallyPoint, retrieved January 8, 2018
  2. ^ a b "Bio for Nicholas J. Frietas". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  3. ^ Bill Bartel Virginia Republican Senate candidates repeatedly attack Obama, barely mention Kaine, The Virginian-Pilot (May 1, 2018).
  4. ^ a b "Bio for Nicholas J. Frietas". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  5. ^ Close, Gary (January 13, 2015). "Freitas to challenge Scott for delegate nomination". Culpeper Star-Exponent. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Champion, Allison (February 11, 2015). "Reeves endorses Freitas for delegate". Culpeper Star-Exponent. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Close, Gary; Sherman, Anita (November 5, 2015). "Walther and Jenkins ride to victory on election day". Culpeper Times. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  8. ^ "2017 November General". results.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  9. ^ Portnoy, Jenna (9 March 2018). "A state lawmaker gives Corey Stewart competition for GOP Senate nomination". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 May 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Wilson, Patrick; Moomaw, Graham (9 February 2018). "Field operations director for Nick Freitas' Senate campaign called women b*tches on Facebook". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 7 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Koma, Alex (25 December 2017). "Freitas brings Senate campaign to Manassas". InsideNoVa.com. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  12. ^ Wilson, Patrick (December 9, 2017). "Virginia Republicans assess November's electoral defeats and plan for the future at annual retreat". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  13. ^ "Rand Paul endorses "liberty Republican" Nick Freitas to challenge Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine". Rare.us. 5 January 2018.
  14. ^ Gregory S. Schneider, Gun-control issue boils over in Virginia House after fiery speech from delegate, Washington Post (March 2, 2018).
  15. ^ Graham Moomaw, As Freitas' guns speech goes viral, Virginia Democrats say slavery remarks reopened racial wounds, Richmond Times-Dispatch (March 5, 2018).
  16. ^ "Delegate Joins Senate Race to Challenge Tim Kaine". Associated Press. December 10, 2017.
  17. ^ "Issues | Nick Freitas for U.S. Senate". Nick Freitas for U.S. Senate. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
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