Candidate for Governor of Nevada (2026)
Biography
Who is this Winterhawk Guy?
Matthew Winterhawk is not running for Governor to become someone.
He doesn't believe leadership is about certainty it’s about judgment, accountability, and the courage to correct course when facts demand it.
He is running because his life has already shown what leadership looks like in the real world, without titles, without donors, and without excuses.
He is a father of two. A husband. A lifelong problem-solver. A business operator. A civic reformer. And a Nevadan who believes public office is a duty, not a lifestyle.
"I’ve made mistakes, rebuilt from nothing, and had my rights fully restored. I’ll never hide my past, I use it to protect Nevadans from the systems that failed me." Matthew Winterhawk
When COVID disrupted Nevada’s families and economy, Winterhawk did not wait for instructions or bailouts. He took full responsibility for his household and his community. He transitioned his children, Ricky and Ava, into full-time homeschooling, while simultaneously operating multiple small businesses in the Las Vegas Valley including ATM services, technology support, and international import/export logistics. While institutions stalled, he adapted. While systems failed, he built.
That philosophy became the foundation of his public work.
Winterhawk founded SmartSlaps, a transparent community-driven nonprofit that supports schools and libraries through direct, verifiable public participation. Its mission is simple: funding without politics, service without bureaucracy, and accountability without manipulation. Every action reflects the same five principles he teaches his children every day:
accountability, responsibility, transparency, honesty, and being a good person.
As an author and civic educator, Winterhawk focuses on constitutional literacy, historical record, and critical thinking, equipping families to understand not just what the law says, but why it exists. His educational work emphasizes civic power, legal awareness, and independent judgment as core tools of citizenship.
In 2022, Winterhawk helped lead the We Will Not Be Silent movement, standing with families in Plainview, Texas after reports of serious failures within a school system. While political leaders stayed distant, he provided direct advocacy support, media exposure coordination, and family assistance, reinforcing his belief that leadership is not issued by title, but proven by presence.
Winterhawk’s campaign for Governor operates without PAC money, without corporate donors, and without financial gatekeepers. He does not believe public office should be auctioned. His campaign is structured as a public contract with Nevadans, built on transparency, direct accountability, and service measurable by results, not rhetoric.
His governing doctrine is built on five executive principles:
• Nevada sovereignty before federal submission
• Families before bureaucracies
• Local control before centralized power
• Emergency readiness before political optics
• Ownership, not dependence
His platform is guided by one standard:
Meet the people. Tell the truth. Do the work. Answer only to the people.
Winterhawk is not running to climb a ladder.
He is running to return Nevada to its people, county by county, family by family, and generation by generation.
He is not promising celebrity leadership.
He is offering operational leadership.
And he believes Nevada is ready for it.
🔥 My Top Issue: Fixing Education. Ending Indoctrination.
Nevada’s education system is broken and families know it. Parents are pulling their kids from public schools not because they want to, but because they have to. Violence is rising. Accountability is gone. And classrooms meant for learning are now battlegrounds for agendas.
Jonathan Lewis Jr should still be alive.
17 years old Forever
Beaten to death outside a school in Clark County, his story is one of many that exposes a dangerous truth: when schools prioritize politics over protection, students suffer.
As a father and former homeless youth who had to grow up fast, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when children are left to fend for themselves. I won’t let Nevada keep failing its kids.
We will:
- 🔒 Remove gender ideology and adult content from classrooms.
- 🛑 End the normalization of predators parading under fake progress.
- 🧠 Bring back critical thinking, history, and real-world skills.
- 👨👩👧👦 Protect parents’ rights and restore their power in education.
We don’t need more indoctrination. We need education. And I’m not here to debate it I’m here to fix it.
🛡️My involvement
In 2023, when a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by classmates in Plainview, Texas, and the school tried to cover it up, I didn’t wait for headlines I got involved.
Through We Will Not Be Silent (WWNBS), a movement I helped organize to defend children and confront corruption in our schools, I traveled with my family to support the victim, her loved ones, and the local community. While officials dodged accountability, I stood face-to-face with the truth: America’s children are being failed, and too many people in power are silent about it.
I helped organize rallies, recorded interviews, gathered community support, and exposed the cowardice of those who protected the institution instead of the child.
I do the work others are too scared to do.
I’ve spoken out against:
- The erosion of parental rights
- The spread of gender ideology and adult content in schools
- The silencing of victims and families
- The normalization of dangerous behaviors and the erasure of boundaries
As someone who experienced trauma and was kicked out of his home at a young age, I know what it means to be failed by the system. That’s why I refuse to let another child be ignored, gaslit, or reprogrammed under the false banner of "progress."
Nevada’s kids deserve:
- 📚 Education, not indoctrination
- 🛡️ Protection, not politics
- 🗣️ A voice, not silence
When no one else shows up I do.
And I always will.