Owen Baker

Owen Matthew Baker (born January 15th, 1973) is an American politician and activist from the Los Angeles, California region of Sequoia. A member of the New Democratic Party, he got his start in politics working as a campaign aide in the late 1990s after serving in the Gulf War. He is currently a candidate in the upcoming 2004 United States House of Representatives elections.

Early Life, Military Service, and Education
Baker was born and raised in Chicago, Montclair as the only child of Matthew and Jessica Baker. His father, Matthew, was a union machinist and his mother, Jessica, an emergency room nurse. Growing up, Baker lived a comfortable life until the death of his father in spring 1980. After the patriarch's death, his mother often had to take extra 12-hour shifts at the hospital to make ends meet.

Upon his graduation from high school, Baker enlisted in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. He was deployed in 1991 to fight in the Gulf War in Iraq. Baker was part of a unit assigned to identify and disrupt terrorist finance networks in Kuwait.

After returning from military service, he graduated from Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs with a Master of Public Policy in 1995. After dating for several years, Baker and his girlfriend, Katie Vaughn, wed in Palm Beach, Bluegrass in 1998.

Pre-Congressional Career
Before being elected to Congress in the 2004 election, Baker worked as a Policy Director for Representative Fitzgerald Grant from 1996 to 1998. After leaving Grant's office, Baker took a position working as the Senior Policy Director to the Chief Development Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He held this position from 1998 to 2003, resigning shortly after his election to Congress.