Mark Moran looks to lead generational change in Senate bid

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – In 2021, Mark Moran appeared on HBO Max’s reality dating show “FBoy Island” where his job description read “Head of Growth & Operations” at the investment company Litquidity.

Five years later, Moran is running as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia, aiming to unseat Mark Warner in November’s midterm elections.

“I looked at what was going on in the Commonwealth and saw that the current solutions offered by politicians weren’t actually helping regular people,” Moran said in an interview with Cville Right Now.

Coming from finance, Moran, according to the story on his campaign site, when working on the acquisition of a non-profit health insurer, became disillusioned by making financial decisions that would affect people’s medical care. He also believes Virginia may be ready for a new voice in the Senate as Mark Warner seeks his third re-election.

Moran initially planned on being a primary challenger in the Democratic Party but in early April made the decision to make a break and seek the Senate seat as an Independent.

The split from the party as a candidate was twofold for Moran. He disapproves of the proposed mid-decade Congressional redistricting effort led by Democrats in an attempt to earn more seats in Congress and disagrees with the party’s stance on the 2nd Amendment.

While he may not have the backing of an established party, Moran felt the need to break from the establishment where he had received pushback from some of his stances.

“I look at my experience over the past few months of trying to work within the traditional establishment framework as you keep running into these guardrails that are by design, that both parties say, ‘Oh, we want this, or we want this slight deviation of this,’ when in reality, no young person’s close to owning a home, closer to having universal healthcare or closer to having free education,” Moran said.

Moran aims to speak to a younger generation of voters and has made appearances in front of college students recently speaking at UVA’s Darden School. When engaging with young voters, Moran has noticed a stark divide with how younger people view the current landscape.

“We have structural problems with how the economy works, but also how this country’s run. And when there’s no hope, that creates this disillusionment that makes it so nobody wants to even participate in our civic governance,” Moran said.