Nicholas J. Freitas (born August 29, 1979) is an American politician and social media influencer. A Republican, he has been a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

since 2016. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in 2018, losing in the

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

to Corey Stewart. He was the Republican nominee in the 2020 election to represent Virginia's 7th congressional district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, which he narrowly lost to Abigail Spanberger, the incumbent Democratic congresswoman.Nick Freitas (Republican Party) is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 30. He assumed office in 2016. His current term ends on January 10, 2024. Freitas (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 30. He won in the general election on November 2, 202
Virginia Election Results: Seventh Congressional District
''New York Times'' (2020). Before entering politics, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Early life and education

Freitas, who is of Portuguese ancestry, was born in Chico,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on August 29, 1979, the son of Robin McMichael and John Freitas. After graduating

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, Freitas joined the

and subsequently graduated from Henley-Putnam School of Strategic Security with a B.S. in Intelligence Management. Following the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Freitas joined the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and served two tours in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. After being honorably discharged in 2009, Freitas moved to

Culpeper County, Virginia Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is ...

in 2010 and served as an operations director for a service-disabled veteran-owned company.

Political career

Freitas became the chairman of the Culpeper County Republican Committee in 2010.

Virginia House of Delegates

Freitas is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 62. He assumed office in 2016, and his current term ends on January 14, 2026.

2015

In 2015, Freitas ran for the

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. The 30th district comprises Madison County, Orange County, and the southern half of Culpeper County.

2017

He ran for re-election in 2017 and won with 62% of the vote over Democrat Ben Hixon.

2019

On July 18, 2019, Freitas withdrew from the 2019 election for House of Delegates after failing to submit required paperwork to the Board of Elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia by the deadline. On August 8, 2019, Freitas announced that he would mount a write-in campaign for re-election and won with 57.89% of the vote. As a member of the House of Delegates, Freitas serves on the following committees: Science and Technology; Militia, Police and Public Safety; and Finance.

2021

Freitas ran for re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 30. He won in the general election on November 2, 2021.

2023

Freitas ran for re-election again in 2023, in the post-reapportionment District 62. He won the general election on November 7, with 62% of the vote.

Congressional campaigns

2018 U.S. Senate election

Freitas sought the Republican nomination for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

seat in the 2018 election. He was endorsed by Senators

Rand Paul Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

and

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Lee became Utah's senior senator in 2019, whe ...

. During the Republican primary campaign, Freitas characterized his rival, Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart, as a "hate-monger." He said, "we must reject Corey Stewart's dog-whistling of White supremacists, anti-Semites, and racists." In the June 2018 primary, Freitas narrowly lost the Republican nomination. Stewart took 44.9% of the vote, Freitas took 43.1% of the vote, and E. W. Jackson took 12.0% of the vote."

2020 U.S. House election

In December 2019, Freitas announced his candidacy for Virginia's 7th congressional district, in which he sought and won the Republican Party nomination to challenge incumbent Representative Abigail Spanberger in the 2020 general election. Freitas earned early endorsements from conservative organizations the

Club for Growth The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) political organization active in the United States, with a fiscally conservative agenda focused on tax cuts and other economic policy issues. Club for Growth's largest funders are billionaires Jeff Yass a ...

and

FreedomWorks FreedomWorks was a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trained volunteers and assisted in campaigns. It was widely associated with the Tea Party movement. The Koch brothers were once a source of ...

. Freitas was considered to be an early front-runner for the Republican nomination due to opinion polls giving him the lead in support and name recognition. Freitas's state delegate district includes much of the congressional district's western portion. Freitas lost the closely fought election, receiving about 49% of the vote to Spanberger's 51% of the vote. Spanberger dominated in the most populous parts of the district, in Chesterfield and Henrico counties in Greater Richmond, while Freitas led in the less-populous parts of the district in outlying Culpeper, Orange, Spotsylvania, Louisa, Goochland,

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

, Amelia, and Nottoway counties. Ultimately, Spanberger's combined 43,000-vote margin in Henrico and Chesterfield proved too much for Freitas to overcome; it was more than five times Spanberger's overall margin of 8,400 votes.

Political views

In the House of Delegates, Freitas has been described as having a "conservative voting record and

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

streak." He has called for the repeal of the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

(Obamacare), describing it as a "cancer."Bill Barte
Virginia Republican Senate candidates repeatedly attack Obama, barely mention Kaine
, ''The Virginian-Pilot'' (May 1, 2018). He supports the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. In 2016, he urged the Culpeper County School Board to disregard an Obama administration mandate that transgender students be allowed the use of the restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. He called it unconstitutional, and said the Obama administration does not "get to arbitrarily redefine what gender means." In 2018, Freitas praised

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, saying he had been a stronger leader in his first year than

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

had been during his eight years. Freitas has called for abolishing the federal income tax, replacing it with a national sales tax. He supported the 2017 Republican tax legislation. In 2018, Freitas opposed the Iran nuclear agreement and supported Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from it. In 2020, Freitas voted against legislation in the Virginia General Assembly to gradually increase the state minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2023. He opposes proposals to increase the federal minimum wage. Freitas voted in favor of marijuana decriminalization during the January 2020 session of the General Assembly. He stated: "I'd rather we use law enforcement resources to go after violent criminals and people that are creating victims." In a speech given in March 2018 on the floor of the House of Delegates, Freitas voiced opposition to further

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

proposals following the

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. Established in 1990 as part of the Broward County Public Schools district and named after the writer Marjory Stonem ...

Parkland, Florida Parkland is a city in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Miami and located north of the city. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which ...

. The speech went viral and drew over 11 million views on Freitas's

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page.

Personal life

Freitas is a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and attends Mountain View Church in Culpeper. He married Tina M. Pierce, whom he met in high school. They have three children. Freitas is a member of the Heritage Foundation and the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

. In 2019, Freitas' wife challenged incumbent Republican Emmett Hanger for his Senate seat in Virginia's 24th district. She was defeated in the primary, gaining 43% of the vote to Hanger's 57%. Freitas hosts a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel called ''The Why Minutes'' where his stated goal is to "provide insight regarding some of the most pressing questions we ask about how society works. We explore the underlying reasons, motivations, and philosophies that inform decisions, promote greater understanding, and advance a society dedicated to preserving and advancing freedom." Freitas also hosts a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

called ''Making the Argument with Nick Freitas'', in which he talks about political issues.

References

External links

U.S. House campaign website

Nick Freitas
at the Virginia Public Access Project
Appearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Freitas, Nicholas 1979 births Living people 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly 21st-century Protestants American gun rights activists American libertarians American people of Portuguese descent American Protestants Candidates in the 2018 United States Senate elections Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections Christian libertarians Members of the United States Army Special Forces Politicians from Chico, California Politicians from Culpeper County, Virginia Protestants from Virginia Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates United States Army non-commissioned officers United States Army personnel of the Iraq War