Iran War And Veteran Discontent Give Democrats A Chance To Flip Republican Seats

Democrats are targeting Republican-held congressional seats with large veteran populations, betting that anger over the Iran war and concerns about President Donald Trump’s leadership could help them win ground in traditionally conservative districts.

Associated Press reported that Democrats are investing in races in Colorado, Virginia, South Carolina and Florida, hoping that opposition to the Iran war and upheaval in the armed forces will put more Republican-held seats in play. Although veterans have historically leaned towards Republicans, their responses to the war and Trump’s leadership remain divided.

Why Democrats Are Targeting Districts With Large Veteran Populations

Democrats are investing in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, a Republican stronghold that includes Colorado Springs and five military facilities. The district is also home to NORAD, Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy. The party is backing Jessica Killin, a former Army captain, against first-term Republican Representative Jeff Crank.

The district presents a difficult electoral challenge. Trump won it by nine percentage points in 2024, and nearly one in nine residents is a veteran, according to federal statistics. Nationwide, nearly six in 10 veterans voted for Trump in the same election, according to AP VoteCast.

Killin grew up in Colorado Springs, where she quips that she was the lone Democrat in her elementary school class. She joined the Army in the late 1990s, rose to captain and served in the Balkan war. She later joined USAA, which provides insurance and banking services to military personnel and veterans.

Her campaign is seeking to persuade voters that Crank has not done enough to challenge Trump. An advertisement accuses the Republican congressman of voting with the president “100% of the time”.

Crank has never served in the military, although his father and father-in-law are veterans and his son-in-law currently serves in the Army. Before entering Congress, he worked as an aide to a longtime congressman representing the area, ran the Colorado chapter of the conservative group Americans For Prosperity and served as Colorado chairman of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign.

He won the Republican primary against a Trump-backed candidate, prompting suspicion among some Trump supporters about whether he would support the president consistently.

In an interview, Crank dismissed the criticism over his voting record and said he would challenge Trump when he believed the president was wrong. He cited the decision to move US Space Command from Colorado to Alabama as an example.

“I’m going to try to check the president where I think he’s wrong,” Crank said.

Killin has presented the election as a question of political accountability and the independence of government institutions. Speaking at a gathering of voters in Colorado Springs, she said she was concerned about the direction of the country and Crank’s response to the president’s actions.

“I grew up in an era where the Department of Defense was apolitical and the Department of Justice was apolitical,” Killin said.

One of her supporters is retired Air Force Colonel Lou Christensen, a registered Republican who served for 28 years. At 70, Christensen said he had never expected to attend a gathering for a Democratic congressional candidate.

“The legislative branch needs to put up guardrails from President Trump,” Christensen said. “We need another branch of government that stands up and says, ‘Uh, boss, that’s not constitutional.’”

Addressing more than two dozen voters at the gathering, Killin also criticised the administration’s foreign policy.

“I know there’s a bunch of veterans in the room, so I don’t have to tell you where we are with foreign policy,” she said. “For the first time in history, now the global community thinks more of China than of the United States.”

How The Iran War Is Dividing Veterans

Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, centred on Virginia Beach, is one of the few districts comparable to Colorado’s 5th in terms of its veteran population. The district is dotted with military bases, while Naval Station Norfolk lies just outside its boundaries. Unlike Colorado’s 5th, elections in Virginia’s 2nd have shifted between the parties over the past decade.

Democrat Elaine Luria, a retired Navy commander who served in the Middle East and Western Pacific and led a unit of 400 sailors, won the seat in 2018. She held it for two terms before Republican Jen Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot, defeated her in 2022, reported Associated Press.

Luria is now challenging Kiggans in a rematch, criticising her and Trump over the Iran war. She has described the conflict as “an expanding economic crisis” and a geopolitical blunder, and criticised Kiggans for voting against resolutions intended to halt military action without congressional approval.

Kiggans, who served in the Navy for 10 years and was deployed twice to the Persian Gulf, said she hoped the war could be brought to an end soon. However, she accused Luria of siding with Iran because of her criticism of the conflict.

“It’s like the Democrats are now siding with the Iranians and not standing with our military,” Kiggans said in an interview.

Veterans in the district have expressed different views on the war and the candidates contesting the seat.

Paul Krekorian, a Navy veteran and retired grade school teacher in Virginia Beach, said he feared the conflict could become a “quagmire” for Trump. He nevertheless decided to support Kiggans, arguing that Democrats “have gone socialist”.

Still, plenty of veterans were casting early ballots for Luria, citing their frustration with Trump and his administration.

Phyllis Mihalas, a self-described independent and retired Army lieutenant colonel, said she was concerned about the country’s security under the current administration.

“I think we are less safe, not just because of the war in Iran, but because of the leadership or the lack of leadership we have,” she said.

Mihalas also criticised Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, describing him as “an enormously incompetent man whose ego consistently gets in the way.”

The disagreements extend beyond the war itself. At the Colorado Springs gathering, a former Army Ranger raised concerns about Hegseth’s attempts to infuse the military with conservative Christian cultural ideas. A newly discharged veteran expressed concern about finding employment.

Crank said one of the first casualties of the Iran war had been stationed at Fort Carson. He said he had called the fallen soldier’s father, who told him, “Don’t let it be for nothing.”

Crank said voters in his district were reluctant to enter the conflict but wanted the military to complete its mission and return home.

“We’re reluctant to go, but once we’re there, let’s get the job done and go home. And I think that’s how people in my district feel,” he said.

Retired Lieutenant General Mike Gould, who previously ran the Air Force Academy, also supported Crank and defended the president’s decision to take on Iran.

“What our president did, taking on Iran the way he did, was exactly the right thing to do,” Gould said.

Democratic Veterans Face Challenges In Florida And South Carolina

Associated Press reported that Democrats are also fielding candidates with military backgrounds in Republican-held seats in South Carolina and Florida, seeking to capitalise on concerns about the Iran war and the military’s leadership.

In South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, former Navy Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore is running against Republican lawyer Jennifer Honeycutt. Lacore was fired by Hegseth last year.

In Florida’s 13th Congressional District, retired Army Brigadier General Leela Gray is challenging Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna. In the state’s 7th Congressional District, former Navy aviator and NASA chief of staff Bale Dalton is running against Republican Ryan Elijah, a local news anchor.

The races reflect Democrats’ attempt to challenge Republican-held seats by fielding candidates with military backgrounds. However, the responses of veterans in Colorado and Virginia show that military service does not translate into a uniform political position, particularly over the Iran war and Trump’s leadership.

In Colorado Springs, the gathering that brought Christensen and other veterans together with Killin illustrated the depth of that disagreement.

Michael Stewart, a 75-year-old former Marine, spoke about his opposition to the Iran war and his disillusionment with the country’s leadership.

“This is the first time,” Stewart said, “I’ve wanted to see my country lose.”