Veterans in Politics: Super Tuesday 2020

Five out of the 14 states participating in the 2020 Super Tuesday presidential primaries on March 3rd also hosted congressional primaries. While Tulsi Gabbard remains the sole military veteran in the US presidential race, significant numbers of veterans will continue on to the general election at the congressional level this November in Alabama, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, and Texas. Here’s a quick rundown of the state of these races.

Alabama: Between US Senate and House races, six veterans ran in Alabama. After Super Tuesday’s results, Democrat and Army veteran Rick Neighbors (AL-04) is in the clear for the November general election. Republican and former Army National Guardsman Barry Moore (AL-02) is headed to a runoff, while on the Senate side, Republican former Senator Jeff Sessions (Army) is likewise headed into a runoff for his old seat.

Arkansas: Arkansas is “Army Strong” when it comes to veterans running for office. Incumbent US Senator Tom Cotton ran unopposed and handily won his primary. Fellow Army veteran and incumbent Republican Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-01) also ran unopposed, as did newcomer Army veteran Steve Womack (R, AR-03).

California: California has long been the state with the highest veteran population. In the 2020 primaries, at least 25 veterans were on the ballot, running in 15 out of 53 districts and fairly closely split between the political parties, with 11 Democratic and 13 Republican (and one unaffiliated) candidates. 

California has a few unique electoral features to bear in mind — it has a “top two” primary system that operates regardless of party affiliation, and it has a 30-day timeframe within which to tally primary votes, in part due to the large amount of mail-in ballots state residents use. What that means tangibly is that some of these names and numbers might fluctuate. However, as it currently stands, out of the 25 veterans who ran on March 3rd, 13 appear to be headed to the general election. Of these, six are Democrats, seven are Republicans, four are incumbents (James Panetta, Salud Carbajal, Ted Lieu, Gilbert Cisneros) and three are females (Kim Mangone, Tamika Hamilton, and Aja Smith). Five districts witnessed veterans running against veterans — Districts 10, 24, 25, 33, and 41. In terms of the service branches, Navy and Air Force veterans predominate, followed by the US Marines. There is one Coast Guard veteran, James Bradley (R, CA-33) and one Army veteran, Mike Thompson (D, CA-05). 

North Carolina: Despite the relatively high concentration of veterans in North Carolina, only seven veterans in five districts (out of 13) were on the primary ballot. US Senate hopeful Cal Cunningham (Army Reserves) bested his Democratic rivals to head to the general election, where he will face incumbent (non-veteran) Senator Thom Tillis (R). On the House side of the equation, four veterans ran as Democrats in Districts 1, 6, 7, and 11, but only incumbent G.K. Butterfield (NC-01) emerged a winner. Two veterans ran as Republicans in Districts 2 and 11, with only Alan Swain (NC-02) moving on to November’s election (he ran unopposed). One further note of interest: Veterans running for office in North Carolina in 2020 are more likely to be from older veteran cohorts rather than to be Post-9/11 veterans.

Texas: Air Force veteran MJ Hegar successfully negotiated her failed 2018 House bid in Congressional District 31 into viable frontrunner status among Democratic candidates for US Senate. Among the 11 Democratic candidates, two were veterans — Hegar and Victor Hugo Harris (Army). A $3.3 million ad campaign marketing Hegar as “Texas Tough” and bankrolled by VoteVets no doubt boosted her campaign relative to her fellow candidates. She garnered 22.3 percent of the vote on Super Tuesday and will head into a runoff election. The winner will face incumbent US Senator John Cornyn (R) in November.

At least 28 veterans ran in 18 Texas districts (out of 36 total districts), including the four incumbent veteran legislators Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Daniel Crenshaw (TX-02), Van Taylor (TX-03) and Brian Babin (TX-36). Six districts featured multiple veteran candidates — Districts 2, 3, 17, 18, 22, and 23. The party tilt is heavily Republican (21 Republican, seven Democratic candidates), which is aligned with the general Republican character of the Texas congressional delegation. Two female veterans — Elisa Cardnell (TX-02) and Gina Ortiz Jones (TX-23) — ran as Democrats, and one ran as a Republican — Melissa Esparza-Mathis (TX-08). At least 15 out of the 28 veterans are Post-9/11 veterans, and at least 10 of these have deployed, primarily to Iraq.

Three Democratic races featuring veterans are headed into a runoff (Districts 2, 13, 17) as well as four Republican ones (Districts 13, 18, 22, 23), with a notable race being District 13 and featuring Ronny Jackson, President Trump’s former White House physician and one-time nominee as Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs. All in all, two Democrat veterans have won their primary — Tom Watson (TX-19) and Gina Ortiz Jones (TX-23), as well as six Republican veterans — all four incumbents, plus newcomers Wesley Hunt (TX-07) and August Pfluger (TX-11).