About Luke

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My name is Luke Nathan Phillips. I am a writer, policy professional, and tour guide from Northern Virginia. I went to school at the University of Southern California, and have spent my career in journalism, policy, and advocacy. I spend as much time as I can hiking and climbing in the National Parks and National Forests out West, and in the lovely mountains and woods closer to home. I fill my free time reading biographies of great Americans and narratives of the American past, and tracing how it brought us here.

I love the American lands where our history happened, from the great mountain peaks of the Far West to the deep dark woods of the Mid-Atlantic to the immense open spaces of the Great Plains to the lush and vibrant wetlands of the South.

I love the American heritage that made us, from the homes of great Americans of every walk of life, to the forts and battlefields reminding us what nationhood cost us, to the monuments and roadside signs commemorating all the light and dark sides of our past.

I admire the public servants who spend their careers protecting and tending these places for the rest of us.

And in that spirit of gratitude for the things previous generations handed down to all of us, and to me, I am running to be the next U.S. Congressman from Northern Virginia.

Many years ago, when I found out that I would never be able to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces for medical reasons, I was crushed; but my mom, a tough-minded immigrant from the Philippines, took me aside and told me that everything would be okay, and that “there are many ways to be a patriot.” I have spent the last 13 years of my life trying to figure out what that meant.

My whole career, I have worked to bring Republicans and Democrats and all Americans together, across our political, ideological, and cultural divides.

I have done this work in advocacies working to help broken communities repair their social fabric across America. I have worked in trade associations working to convene different sectors into industrial alliances for the common good. I have worked in grassroots movements seeking to let college students feel safe on campuses, helping serious thinkers engage with others they might not otherwise have encountered, and helping normal people all over America to find hope in the darkness, to find reasons to have faith in their fellow Americans, and to awaken their own better angels.

I have spent time mentoring younger people with aspirations for public service, supporting civic programs for student and young professional groups, and volunteering for the movement that, more than anything else, shaped my understanding of life- the Scouting movement in America.

And I have spent my whole adult life deeply admiring, studying, and enjoying the American heritage, the American past, and the American land. One of the reasons I love Northern Virginia is its deep connection to American heritage, from Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon to all the little monuments and all the Potomac’s shorelines and forests and all the memories of the past. As an amateur historian, an active outdoorsman, a writer, and a tour guide, my greatest joy in life is sharing my love of the American heritage with everyone who asks.

And so I have been blessed in life. When I was first born, my family lived at the bottom of Arlington Ridge, next to the Crystal City Water Treatment Plant. But because my dad was an officer in the U.S. Navy, my siblings and I had the great privilege of growing up in places all over the United States, before my dad’s final duty station back here in Virginia. I grew up seeing the national parks, the national historic sites, all the American landscapes, and all the American narratives, believing they were mine.

As America turns 250 in 2026, I am running for Congress to fight for the America I love; to persuade my fellow Americans, right and left, that our public lands and historic heritage are worth protecting. I am running to help my generation remember that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and that we have a duty to it. And I am running to show Northern Virginia’s central place in all of it.

And to my friends, neighbors, and fellow Americans of mine who disagree with me on things, in little ways and in big ones- I am running for you, too.

Whatever your politics, I am looking forward to listening to you, to talking with you, and to working with you as America pushes along into another 250 glorious years. See you on the trail.