Are “Battle-Tested” Veterans the Key to Democrats' Success in the 2026 Midterms, or Has the Party Disillusioned Too Many Americans?

Amy McGrath speaking at event. Courtesy of her official Facebook page.

On October 6th, 2025, Amy McGrath proclaimed, “I swore an oath to defend this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic…Running for Senate is an extension of that oath. I’ll be a bulwark against authoritarianism and threats to our democracy.” McGrath, a retired Marine aviator once considered a rising Democratic star, took to X with this simple declaration to defend the United States’ democracy,  announcing she will be running for Senate in Kentucky’s upcoming election. This will not be McGrath’s first flight into electoral combat. She is gearing up for her third campaign to hold public office in Kentucky.  Her first attempt was in 2018, when she narrowly lost her run for Congress to Representative Andy Barr (R, KY). Two years later, in 2020, she faced a devastating 20-point loss to Senator Mitch McConnell (R, KY) in the most expensive Senate race in Kentucky’s history.     

Now, six years later, after being trounced in 2020, the race field looks vastly different. The 83-year-old Senator McConnell is not seeking reelection for the seat he has held since 1985. For the first time in 16 years, Kentucky has an open Senate seat, and for McGrath, this represents a newfound opportunity to win.  However, for Democrats, her candidacy represents something larger: a test of whether Democratic veterans are capable of restoring credibility to their party as they struggle to connect with a growing, disillusioned electorate. Democrats know their party needs a win following their dismal performance in the 2024 elections and approval ratings lower than Donald Trump. In an effort to take back the government next fall, Democrats are turning to veterans, in hopes they can bring the American public back to their party and flip the Senate and the House. 

Democrats will face a steep uphill battle in 2026 to retake the U.S. Congress. In the House, Democrats must flip three seats, and the Senate map the party faces is exceedingly difficult.  Aside from poor polling numbers ahead of the upcoming midterms, journalists have described the Democratic brand as “in the toilet.” This has led some Democrats to turn to veterans as a way to connect with voters. Party leaders and veteran-aligned groups, including VoteVets, are making concerted efforts to encourage veterans to start their campaigns.  It's a playbook that worked in 2006 for Democrats when Republicans controlled the House and Senate, and in 2018, when the party relied on many veterans-turned-candidates to help deliver them the House. Now, party leaders say they are deliberately copying elements of this campaign strategy in the hopes of achieving a similar level of success next year. 

“The proof of prior cycles is that veterans are very successful in campaigns,” said Representative Jason Crow (D, CO), a former Army Ranger who is leading the charge of recruiting veterans for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ political campaign arm. Crow emphasized that “There’s a lot of districts where I think our veteran candidates are going to do well, and we have several who we’re looking hard at right now that I think have a good opportunity to be successful.”

Democratic leaders know that veterans hold a unique advantage over their competitors, as voters often assume they are politically moderate. Tracis Tazelaar, the political director of VoteVets, an organization that recruits Democratic veteran candidates and runs ads for them, explained, “The average voter looks at a veteran and doesn’t see them as a hard conservative right or a hard liberal left.”

Many view the United States military as one of the last holdouts of nonpartisanship in the U.S., and by extension, its veterans can embody this legacy.  This ideology has been reflected in an October 2025 poll by Gallup, in which 55 % of Americans say they believe that candidates with past military service make them either much more or somewhat more willing to vote for that candidate.  More than 78 %  of those polled think candidates with past military experience can place the nation’s interests ahead of their own partisan or personal interests.

This unique quality veterans possess can be especially effective for Democrats as they work to expand their map of support deeper into rural and Republican-leaning areas. In 2018, Democrats witnessed Veterans' capability to garner far-reaching support, particularly in women veterans who were uniquely positioned to flip seats blue. Since then, Democrats have incorporated this strategy into their political repertoire and are once again leaning on it in preparation for the upcoming midterms. In 2025, the Democratic Party is fielding an unusually large slate of veteran candidates, including Amy McGrath in Kentucky.

Amy McGrath’s combat resume is unique and tells the story of a woman committed to serving the American public. She holds the distinction of being the first woman in the Marine Corps to fly an F/A-18 in combat and do so worldwide. Throughout her 20 years in the Marines, she flew in 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, served as a Pentagon liaison, and was an instructor in the U.S. Naval Academy.  As McGrath puts it, she’s “battle tested.” 

Now no longer flying missions against terrorists, today McGrath is focused on a different fight: gearing up to campaign on the promise of bettering the lives of Kentuckians.  She cited healthcare cuts and President Trump’s tariffs that hurt Kentucky farmers and bourbon producers as motivators for her candidacy.  “I think a lot of people around the country and certainly here in Kentucky are ticked off and angry about the way our country's headed right now, and I'm one of them,” McGrath said, continuing to explain that “I think what we're seeing from this president is dangerous and not normal. And what we've seen from politicians in Washington in the past six months really hurts my state, my neighbors, my fellow Kentuckians.” With Senator McConnell bowing out of the race, McGrath has positioned herself on the ballot as the voice for courage and democracy, echoing her Marine oath as a moral background check for voters. 

While this may be McGrath’s third Congressional election, the stakes of this election and the potential consequences if Democrats fail to regain a chamber of Congress are not lost on her. For Democrats, this election represents an important opportunity to become a legislative wedge in President Trump's agenda and regain their status as a winning party. The 2026 midterms are not simply a question of whether McGrath can finally win Kentucky; it is about whether a candidate's service experience is valued over partisan politics.  If successful, this election could signal a viable election blueprint for Democrats nationally, but if Democrats fail to improve their numbers in Congress, it could confirm that a candidate's biography and personal story can not alone counterbalance a party’s brand crisis.