Matthew Hook

Matthew Hook (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Indiana's 5th Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on June 2, 2020.

Hook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Matthew Hook was born in Columbia City, Indiana. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Indiana University in 1981 and a law degree from the Indiana University School of Law in 1989. Hook's career experience includes working as a CPA and an attorney, in addition to working for Centerfield Capital Partners as a Senior Partner for 17 years.^[1]

Elections

2020

Indiana's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

Indiana's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Victoria Spartz defeated Christina Hale and Ken Tucker in the general election for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Victoria Spartz (R)	50.0	208,212
	Christina Hale (D)	45.9	191,226
	Ken Tucker (L)	4.0	16,788

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 416,226
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Vernon Moore (Independent)
Ellen Kizik (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Christina Hale defeated Dee Thornton, Jennifer Christie, Andy Jacobs, and Ralph Spelbring in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christina Hale	40.8	30,123
		Dee Thornton	27.1	20,049
		Jennifer Christie	18.1	13,345
	Submit photo	Andy Jacobs	13.3	9,817
	Submit photo	Ralph Spelbring	0.8	575

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 73,909
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Victoria Spartz	39.7	34,526
	Beth Henderson	17.6	15,343
	Micah Beckwith	12.7	11,063
	Carl Brizzi	6.5	5,619
	Kent Abernathy	5.6	4,901
	Kelly Mitchell	5.3	4,643
	Chuck Dietzen	4.7	4,071
	Matthew Hook	2.5	2,147
	Andrew Bales	1.5	1,329
	Mark Small	1.2	1,057
	Danny Niederberger	0.8	675
	Victor Wakley	0.5	465
	Allen Davidson	0.5	411
	Russell Stwalley	0.4	379
	Matthew Hullinger	0.4	333

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,962
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Ken Tucker advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on March 7, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Ken Tucker (L)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Matthew Hook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hook's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a former CPA, Attorney and Senior Partner in a Private Equity Firm. I decided to run for office because of my concerns for the fiscal and environmental problems we are leaving future generations. Specifically, my concerns are $1,000,000,000,000 annual deficits, insolvency facing Medicare and Social Security and the devastation caused by climate change. These are all major problems facing the country as spelled out on various governmental websites. However, nobody seems to be discussing them for fear of losing their job or because of the special interest groups they truly represent. I personally believe it is unconscionable and think future generations deserve better.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Pass legislation to address climate change.
Raise taxes to address our national debt and $1 trillion annual deficits.
Fix Medicare and Social Security which are facing insolvency.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

An inhabitable earth and a fiscally healthy country.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

George H. W. Bush because he spent his life serving our country and was willing to sacrifice for it regardless of the cost to himself. As a young man, I could not understand why after freeing Kuwait form Iraq's invasion so easily, he decided not to go into Baghdad when he had the world behind him and could have easily done it. However, he had the self-confidence of a war hero who had nothing to prove and understood the Middle East well enough to know the disaster and quagmire it would be. Twenty-five years later history is now beginning to understand his great insight and wisdom in that decision. He then went on to take unpopular stands to address acid rain and set the United States on a path to $300 billion surpluses. I will always regret our country did not understand how fortunate we were to have him at the time.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

A book that speaks more to my concern than political philosophy is Mortal Republic - Rome's Fall Into Tyranny which is about Romes leaders who used their offices for personal gain and disregarded the institutions and customs which made Rome great, ultimately leading to the downfall of Rome.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Not taking money from special interest groups and doing the right thing as apposed to worrying about staying in office.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am analytical and independent minded. In addition, I have a high degree of integrity and no interest in working for anyone else in the future. As such, I will only look after the best interest of my constituents, future generations and the country.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Represent the people and future generations as opposed to the special interest groups.

What legacy would you like to leave?

A livable planet and a country that is not only militarily strong but financially strong as well.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first historical event I remember was the funeral of JFK. I was five years old and was staying at a family friends because my mother was in the hospital after delivery a child the day before.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Multiple paper routes from 6th grade through high school.

What is your favorite book? Why?

I don't have a favorite anything especially books because there are just too many great ones that have such different insights. However, one I really enjoyed last year was Einstein's Monsters; The Life and Times of Black Holes. I enjoyed it because I love learning about the mysteries of the universe and the amazing things scientist are figuring out about it. However, I freely acknowledge there was much of it I did not understand.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Superman -- great powers and fought for justice.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Breaking My Stride -- Matthew Wilder

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I have spent too much time worrying about not being good enough and not speaking up for injustice.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

It is an institution made up of 435 voting members who are working to represent the hopes and dreams of 330 million people while being inundated by unknown amounts of money and lobbyist representing every possible special interest but the individuals who put them in office in the first place.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Given congresses 27% approval rating and the fact that they are afraid to make tough decisions for fear of losing their seat, I would definitely say NO.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Addressing the divisiveness within our society and our failure to listen to each other. This problem is exacerbated by our desire to consume media that reinforces our confirmation bias rather than trying to understand the various points of view. A close second is crony capitalism.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Ways and Means, Budget and Oversight and Government Reform

If you are a current representative, why did you join your current committees?

N/A

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I would support them but would also note their constituents can enforce them every two years if they don't think their Representative is doing a good job.

If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?

No

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

No

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

When talking to a group of young adults in their mid 20s, they explained how they understood we were leaving them a fiscal mess and that they would just need to be wise and save more. However, they couldn't believe we were denying climate change and doing absolutely nothing about it.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

Footnotes

↑ ’’Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 24, 2020’’

[show]

Indiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Jim Banks (R)

Todd Young (R)

Representatives

District 1

Frank Mrvan (D)

District 2

Rudy Yakym (R)

District 3

Marlin Stutzman (R)

District 4

Jim Baird (R)

District 5

Victoria Spartz (R)

District 6

Jefferson Shreve (R)

District 7

André Carson (D)

District 8

Mark Messmer (R)

District 9

Erin Houchin (R)

Republican Party (9)

Democratic Party (2)

[bio-1] ’’Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 24, 2020’’

[1]

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Matthew Hook

Contents

Biography

Elections

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

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