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VoteVets Announces a $1 Million Targeted Veteran and National Security Expert Candidate Recruitment Initiative

Press Releases

Leveraging our resources, strengths, and successes, VoteVets is investing in a winning strategy to shape our democratic leadership for the next generation. 

Washington, DC. – Today, following a historic investment in the Virginia Governor’s race and successful work shaping the narrative around Elon Musk’s reckless actions within the administration, VoteVets is announcing an innovative new candidate recruitment effort, building a pipeline of the next generation of veteran and national security expert elected leaders. Over the next three years, we will mount an aggressive recruitment effort, building out the infrastructure for ongoing identification and cultivation of veteran and national security expert candidates with dedicated staff, data-driven models, and robust relationships with existing local and state leadership. 

When veterans and national security experts speak, Americans listen: the first Gallup poll of 2025 once again ranked military officers as among the top three most ethical and honest professions. Americans consistently turn to veterans and national security experts as the standard-bearers for decency, security, and integrity in their communities. Even amidst 2024’s widespread losses, VoteVets-endorsed candidates clinched 143 victories across local, state, and federal races, including Senators Ruben Gallego, Elissa Slotkin, and Andy Kim, and Congresspersons Pat Ryan, Jared Golden, and Maggie Goodlander. When our candidates run, they win. We can build a powerful surge that will deliver key wins for the Democratic Party across state and local public offices — if we stand up strong veteran and national security expert candidates. 

Please see below for details outlining this $1 million initiative. 

 

The Voter File:

VoteVets’ proposed recruitment program is rooted in our access to a highly valuable and singular asset: our Veteran and Military Family Voter File. The file contains 10 million names of verified and modeled vet and military affiliated voters, representing a valuable well from which to draw candidates for local and state offices.

Over the past few cycles, VoteVets has used its access to the Voter File to recruit veterans for a wide variety of actions, among them voter contact, signing pledges, press, and events. The Voter File has been used to send texts to 2.5 million possible veterans to confirm their veteran status and make sure they had the information needed to vote, with an incredibly high contact and response rate. Each of these responses deepen the profiles of the veterans in the file, creating dossiers that incorporate their military branch of service and the political and community issues that matter most to them.

Reaching into the Voter File to recruit potential candidates is likely to return investment at the local level initially, and with planning and scaffolding can also be the beginning of long political careers that follow a progression of leadership roles.

 

The Natural Leadership Ladder: 

Forty-five percent of VoteVets-endorsed federal candidates (non-incumbents) in 2024 were serving in a state or local elected capacity when they stood for election. Leaning into this progressive escalation of elected roles, VoteVets is actively building relationships in all 99 state house and senate caucuses as well as within local labor affiliates to steward a long-term engagement with local elected leaders — years before there is an opening to run for higher office. Whether candidates follow the examples of Pat Ryan (County Executive > Congress) or Ruben Gallego (State Representative > Congress > US Senate), VoteVets will build the capacity to shepherd in a full scale movement rooted in democratic values, renewable with each new local candidate recruited, preparing each to ascend steadily to higher, more influential office.

Key Initiatives

    • Strengthen relationships with all 99 state house and senate caucuses, as well as local National Education Association (NEA) affiliates.

    • Invest in early engagement with potential candidates, ensuring VoteVets plays a pivotal role in their political development.

    • Highlight success stories like Pat Ryan (County Executive to Congress) and Ruben Gallego  (State Representative to Congress to U.S. Senate) to inspire and guide emerging leaders.


Scaffolding and Launching New Veteran and National Security Expert Candidates:

New candidate recruits, who may be deeply embedded and respected in their communities but relatively new to politics, deserve robust support ranging from technical assistance to mentoring to cohort training and networking. Our deep bench of policy and election experts and our extended network of media and campaign professionals will come together to ensure that all our new candidates have the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Key Initiatives

    • Bring on a seasoned State Recruitment and Organizing Director to provide a central contact and maintain an information repository for all potential recruits. This Director will provide ongoing program mentorship to recruits and will connect recruits and candidates to regional or policy-specific experts for information sharing and support.

    • The Organizing Director will ensure that recruited candidates are provided access to the resources they need to travel for training and meetings, develop candidate websites, hire finance directors, and connect with legal advisors.

    • VoteVets will hold multiple regional or national new candidate workshops that connect candidates to campaign managers, fundraisers, and pollsters for information sharing and to build out their campaign teams.