Mark Moran Leaves Democratic Party, Runs for U.S. Senate as Independent to Put Virginia and America First
RICHMOND, VA - Mark Moran, candidate for the United States Senate seat representing Virginia, announced Thursday that he is leaving the Democratic Party and running as an independent. The announcement was recorded outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond — the same building where Patrick Henry delivered his 1775 "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech — and was first shared exclusively with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
"I'm breaking free from the Democratic establishment. I'm going to run for United States Senate as an independent. I'm doing that because I'm putting our country first. I'm putting it above these divisive issues that the left, that the right and our corporate media control."
, Mark Moran
Moran, 34, a former investment banker and Virginia native, is running against three-term incumbent Senator Mark Warner in the November general election. He has argued throughout the campaign that Warner represents the financial and political interests that have failed working Virginians for a generation. By leaving the Democratic Party, Moran steps out of the August 4 primary and takes the fight directly to the general election.
"I'm running as an independent because this message is about much more than me. It's about the idea of America. We're 250 years in. We have to have big, bold, beautiful ideas to change things, and it's up to us to not fall into the trap that Washington warned about of being divided by political parties."
, Mark Moran
With the announcement, Moran released the Common Benefits Plan — an eleven-section policy platform first obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The plan opens plainly: "The United States is no longer functioning as a Republic; it is functioning as a publicly traded corporation that is being systematically asset-stripped by financial interests." With $39 trillion in national debt and $1 trillion in annual interest payments, Moran argues that marginal reform is not enough. The plan calls for a Chapter 11-style reorganization of the Republic's finances, a restructured tax code that eliminates corporate loopholes, a 20-year government-backed Prosperity Mortgage to replace the 30-year mortgage, and a Compute Tithe on the data center industry that has built its infrastructure on Virginia's land and power grid while paying nothing back to the Commonwealth.
Read the full Daily Caller exclusive →"We can't afford homes, we can't afford health care. We're dropping bombs on another country at the behest of another country. We're entirely controlled by corporate institutions. We need to fundamentally restructure and turn this around so that it works for the people. Everything is wrong, and it's because money controls. That is not the system that our Founding Fathers designed."
, Mark Moran
Moran's break with the Democratic Party follows months of open criticism of the party's positions on gun rights and gerrymandering. He has called the Virginia Democratic Party's proposed gerrymandered House map — which voters will decide on April 21 — "absolutely tyranny," and has accused party leadership of using President Trump as cover for consolidating political power at the expense of rural Virginians.
"It's time for us to unite, to realize we can close our borders, we can earn our citizenship and the right to vote, and that we can do this together, and we can put America first. We can put the Commonwealth of Virginia first, but it's up to us to take it back."
, Mark Moran
On the campaign trail, Moran plans to drive his 2014 Corvette — the Transparency Machine — 50,000 miles across Virginia before November. The car will carry the logos of small businesses owned by individual donors rather than corporate sponsors, a deliberate contrast to the PAC-funded campaigns that have dominated Virginia Senate races for decades. "My goal is to drive 50,000 miles across the Commonwealth by November, meeting everyone," Moran said. "I look at that as a direct testament to commitment to an area, but it's how we should be judged as politicians."
"The era of the asset-stripped corporation is over. The reclamation of the Republic begins today."
, Mark Moran, Common Benefits Plan
The Moran for Senate campaign takes no corporate PAC money. Contributions go through Shift4 at runwithmoran.com. The full Common Benefits Plan is available at runwithmoran.com.
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