(LifeSiteNews) — Mark Houck, the pro-life Catholic husband and father of seven who was subjected to a guns-drawn dawn raid by heavily armed FBI agents and hit with federal charges last year after defending his son from being harassed by an abortion escort, is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s first Congressional District.
An official campaign website set up for Houck’s candidacy in the 2024 election states the pro-life dad is running on a “common sense” platform of “Restoring Faith, Family & Freedom.”
“I have seen firsthand what an out-of-control government can do to its citizens,” Houck said in a statement published on the campaign website. “I will fight to protect all people and their rights under God & our Constitution. My platform is based on common sense.”
The pro-life Catholic dad said he is “running for Congress to further protect my family, those in the 1st district & the Republic.” He explained he “will focus on restoring traditional values & principles that are central to the American identity, such as faith, family, & freedom of speech, religion, & the right to bear arms.”
Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie, confirmed to LifeSiteNews on Tuesday that the campaign launch is legitimate.
Houck also spoke about his campaign in a Wednesday interview, explaining that he is “taking my ministry and who I am as a father and a husband to Washington, D.C., and when we win in 2024, we’ll have more integrity there. I think that’s why we have to do it.”
He will run against incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, a former supervisory agent with the FBI who has sided with Democrats on a slew of leftist and anti-family measures including the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, The Right to Contraception Act, and the pro-LGBT Respect for Marriage Act.
As originally reported by LifeSite, Houck was subjected to a dawn raid by Biden’s FBI last year, with dozens of heavily armed agents swarming the family’s property. The DOJ charged Houck with two felonies for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for pushing abortion clinic “escort,” Bruce Love, 73, during sidewalk altercations on two occasions in 2021.
Houck was fully acquitted of felony charges in January, and in February spoke with sympathetic members of Congress while attending the State of the Union address.
READ: Mark Houck acquitted on both charges in major pro-life victory
In May, he shared his testimony with lawmakers on the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
During the May hearing, Houck said he believed that the dramatic arrest and federal charges lodged against him were meant “to humiliate me, to scare my children, and to instill fear in pro-life America.”
On his campaign website, Houck outlines his vision on a number of current political issues, ranging from the scope of government to education and abortion.
In statements published on the campaign page, Houck articulates a conservative vision of “limited government,” vows to “fight” for an armed forces that isn’t “woke” or used as “a social experimentation program,” and emphasizes a color-blind perspective on race.
Houck also promises to “fight to end the industrial educational complex that puts unions, administrations & indoctrination before our children,” and to “support parental rights in the education of their children while also protecting students & their rights to fair play on the playing fields.”
READ: GOP senators grill Merrick Garland over FBI, DOJ terrorizing Mark Houck and his family
On the abortion issue, Houck vows he “will strive daily to restore family values by instituting & promoting policy that protects the dignity of the human person, in particular the pre-born child.”
“I believe as we look at the vastness of the universe & try to find life, we must also recognize how rare life is in the universe & therefore we must defend all human life at all stages of development,” he said.
Houck has previously stated that he wants to ensure that Planned Parenthood and the Biden FBI are “held to account,” and to prevent the federal government from being weaponized against any other pro-life advocates.
He said his situation has given him an “amazing platform to proclaim Jesus” and invited supporters to recognize that “suffering is a true invitation” to “meet Christ.”
In February, Houck said he was “most definitely” planning to press charges against the DOJ for the “reckless” FBI raid that “terrorized” his young children.