“I believe in conservative principles. If you look it up, there is a Republican creed in Virginia,so I stay pretty true to that. I agree with that creed. So that is why I align more with Republican,” Michael Makee says.

Michael Makee ran for delegate in the recent Virginia election. He was the Republican candidate for delegate. Makee has strong conservative beliefs about how the government should be.  

“I like fiscal conservatism. I understand that governments have to spend money, and there should be a very specific purpose; there should be limits on what the government spends money on. The government can’t solve every problem. I believe in individual liberty. I believe in a strong defense. When I say strong defense, I mean national defense. The recent terror attacks inside the United States are not a military concern,” Makee says.

Makee is also a strong advocate for more freedom when it comes to the purchase and ownership of firearms.

“I believe in the Second Amendment. We all have the right and opportunity and obligation to defend ourselves and our family. I support the right to bear arms,” Makee says.

Makee replaced Juan Davis in this election; if Makee had not run, there would not have been a republican candidate. Makee’s main reason to run for delegate was because he wanted to fix the local problems that are continually happening.

“When I ran, my platform was transportation, education, and controlling government spending. As a person living here in the second district, traffic is terrible, so that’s what really motivated me to jump in. I can do this job, I want to represent down in Richmond, but the truth is, I want to solve traffic,” Makee says.

Makee heavily involved his family when it came to campaigning and finding people to help out. Even his kids who live out of town came to Stafford to help in hopes of having their father win the position of VA Delegate.

“I have six kids and they are any age from 12 to 25. All of them helped out. We have three who live here with us now, one in college, 2 who are have graduated college and have their own life and came back. My son is in New York City and came back and was door knocking. He brought his girlfriend so it was a great experience having my family out there helping.”

Makee’s family had specific tasks when they were helping due to the amount of work he himself had to do. There are many documents involved as well as many events and meetings in which attendance is required. People who are running need to attend caucuses, which is a conference involved all the members of a particular group or side.

“It was a seven day week on average, so every evening I was out door knocking or at an event and then on weekends, my family helped me out with door knocking,” Makee says.

By doing this, Makee opened up his family to brand new experiences. His son, Connor Makee (‘19), who attends Forge, assisted in door knocking and more for his father’s campaign.

“I used my truck a lot: burned through a lot of gas there. I’d also go with him and knock on doors, [tell them to] ‘vote for Mike’, let them have a discussion about Mike’s policy. I also made a couple phone calls to people,” Connor Makee says.

Connor gained a new perspective of the community by helping out his father in this campaign.

“It was definitely a new experience, definitely met a lot of new people. I got to see a side of the community that I had not previously been aware of. I got to see a lot of people and meet a lot of people,” Connor says.

Aside from his family, Makee also requested Colonial Forge students who were interested to help him with campaigning in the district.

“We were looking for door knockers. [We chose students from Colonial Forge] because we are very familiar with Forge. It is in our district. High schoolers are great man power opportunity and they have weekends free,” Makee says.

Although he did not win, Makee will continue to be active in the Republican Party in the county.

“I am Stafford County Republican City Treasurer. I’ll stay active in the Stafford County Republican Party, but other than that, I do not have any plans,” Makee says.