For 2014, there is a growing trend by the political parties to recruit and support veterans of military service to run for congressional offices to take advantage of the public’s dissatisfaction with Washington. That dissatisfaction coupled with respect for retired military veterans and the perception that not only do they care about the country, they get things done.
There are more than a dozen veterans who have announced a run for the House of Representatives in 2014. Both the Republican and Democrat parties have sought out candidates whose records allow them to appear to be perfect antidotes for the partisan, gridlocked Washington.
The House races are expected to be the most competitive, and it is where the Democrats need to pick up 17 seats. The Democrats are pushing eight challengers who promote their recent active duty military service including National Guard or Reserves; the Republicans are championing five veterans in what are considered to be hotly contested races.
Arizona is banking on the military veterans to win back 2 of the 9 districts in the state in 2014.
Republican Martha McSally is putting her military service at the forefront of her second congressional campaign and emphasizing what she calls the Air Force’s core values. “Service before self, integrity and excellence in all we do,” says McSally, the first woman in U.S. history to command a fighter squadron in combat. “And those are the character traits that are sorely lacking” in Washington.
In 2012, McSally narrowly lost to Ron Barber, a former aide to Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who represented southern Arizona’s 8th district until she was wounded during a mass shooting in 2011. The district was renamed as the 2nd district in 2012 as a result of the addition of the 9th Congressional District.
Interestingly, Arizona’s Republicans are also looking to Wendy Rogers, who served 20 years in the Air Force, to take on first term Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in the 9th Congressional District.
The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee , Steve Israel of New York, predicts that the October government shutdown will make a veteran’s service more compelling for voters because veterans are perceived to be more pragmatic. “They are the perfect contrast to a do-nothing member of Congress who is willing to shut down the government versus a veteran who devoted his or her life to serving their country,” Israel said.
It appears that the Democratic Party’s top candidates with military service are Suzanne Patrick in Virginia’s defense-heavy 2nd Congressional District, Jerry Cannon in Michigan’s rural 1st Congressional District and former Army Ranger Kevin Strouse in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District. Although Patrick and Cannon are running in Republican-leaning districts, they are not so heavily Republican that they’re beyond the Democrats’ reach.
Republicans, while they say they’re recruiting the best candidates for congressional districts, they acknowledge that veterans have a strong story to offer voters.
Regardless of party, if they are successful, there will be new faces who will have the public’s trust, which hopefully, they will honor.