Matthew Vicente Santos is a fictional Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Houston, Texas, played by Jimmy Smits. He is a main character on the American television show The West Wing. He is the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2006 election, and his campaign is being managed by President Bartlet's former Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman.

Matt Santos first appeared on the show as a three-term congressman who decides not to seek reelection, which creates speculation among West Wing senior staffers that he will run for Governor of Texas. Santos spent his six years in Congress trying, unsuccessfully, to get a Patients' Bill of Rights enacted. A pragmatic liberal, he is immune to flattery and is committed to using the power of government to help people. He is married to Helen Santos; they have two young children.

Santos attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating at the top of his class. He was the first member of his family to attend and graduate from college. He was commissioned as an offier in the United States Marine Corps, where he was qualified as a pilot. He later entered politics and was elected mayor of Houston, Texas, serving capably, before being elected to the United States House of Representatives. One of his major presidential campaign platform planks is dedicated to reforming public education in the United States. In the West Wing episode "Opposition Research," Santos says the school year should be at least 240 days out of the year, in order for American children, once grown, to more effectively compete in the world marketplace.

In the episode "Opposition Research", a comment Santos made about the New Hampshire primary eight years before is made public upon his arrival in the state for his first campaign trip. Santos said the New Hampshire primary was "about as diverse as a Mayflower reunion." He refuses to back away from this comment, demonstrating his willingness to stick to his guns and speak even inconvenient truths. In the days before the Iowa caucus, however, despite Santos's own policy views and past opposition, he announces that he supports federal support of ethanol as an alcohol fuel, a move which, in the light of Republican candidate Senator Arnold Vinick's failure to bend on the same point, caused trouble for Josh Lyman, who encouraged it. Oddly, though, the candidate's wife Helen seemed more displeased with Josh than Santos himself.

When, on the day before the California primary, a sex-scandal erupted for former Vice President John Hoynes, a rival for the nomination who had been forced to resign as Bartlet's vice president over a similar scandal, Santos received the implicit endorsement of the Governor of California and won the primary in an upset victory.

Picking up steam, Santos proceeded to win primaries in many more states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey. By the time of the Democratic National Convention, he had won enough delegates to virtually tie with frontrunner and current Vice President Bob Russell. Prior to the convention, Santos turned down the offer of the vice presidential nomination and decided to take his chances for the top job.

During the convention, Governor Eric Baker of Pennsylvania, who had previously decided against running for president and who had turned down an offer of the vice-presidential nomination from Vice President Russell, offered himself as a candidate from the floor, stealing delegate votes from all of the candidates and stretching the balloting to an unprecedented third day. When members of the Russell campaign revealed to the press that Baker had covered up his wife's history of clinical depression, however, he lost delegate support.

Ordered by convention organizer, former Secretary of Labor, and former White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry to step aside in favor of either Baker or Russell, Santos was given a chance to address the convention. Instead of withdrawing, however, Santos gave a rousing speech that swung the momentum in the balloting back to him. Thanks to the behind-the-scenes machinations of President Bartlet, who had decided to end the balloting before it damaged the party's image, Santos received the support of a key teacher's union, which had spurned him because of his views on education. Santos eventually received at least 2,751 votes from delegates, clinching the nomination at the end of the final episode of the season. In the last minutes of the episode, it was revealed that he had chosen Leo McGarry as his vice presidential nominee.

In the seventh season of the show, Representative Santos and Secretary McGarry will be running against Senator Arnold Vinick of California, the Republican Party's presidential nominee, and his running-mate, Governor Ray Sullivan of West Virginia.

See also

• The West Wing
• Characters on The West Wing
• List of The West Wing episodes