2024 election: Veterans a sought-after voting bloc

CHICAGO — Democrats are making a play for veteran and military support, a pivotal group of voters who could be a deciding factor in the November election. In a swing state like Nevada — where veterans make up about 8 percent of the population — garnering more veterans’ support could be what tilts a race blue or red.

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Democrats worked to appeal to veterans and military families. It showed videos of veterans including Mike McLaughlin, an Iraq war veteran, highlighting the work vice presidential nominee Tim Walz did in Congress to help veterans. Speakers are also scheduled to talk during the last night of the convention about the ways Democrats have supported veterans and service members.

Veterans have historically voted more Republican, but polls in recent years have signified a shift with more veterans and active-duty members sliding more to the left. In 2009, a Gallup poll showed veterans of all ages tend to vote more Republican. A 2020 poll from the Military Times Polls and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University saw a decline of favorable views of Donald Trump and a higher preference for President Joe Biden.

For the first time in two decades, both Democratic and Republican parties have veterans on their presidential tickets with Walz and Sen. J.D. Vance, respectively. And both parties’ conventions have made a point of showcasing veterans, signifying the importance the politically active group could have in November.

Democrats vs. Republicans work for veterans

Perhaps the biggest example the Democratic Party has used to show its veteran support comes through the passage of the PACT Act, a mostly Democratic supported legislation signed by Biden in 2022 that provides veterans and their survivors health care and benefits if they were exposed to toxic burn pits.

“This is a monumental piece of legislation,” said Travis Tazelaar, political director of VoteVets, an organization of progressive veterans, during a campaign event in August with Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. “It guarantees that some young person who has burn pit exposure today that it guarantees they will have benefits and it will be service connected decades from now.”

Las Vegas resident and U.S. Air Force veteran Aliciana Graham is one of the thousands of Nevadans who are benefiting from the PACT Act. Graham was exposed to burn pits during her service in Djibouti and now suffers from respiratory and skin conditions, she said.

She’d have to pay about $5,000 for the medication she takes, but because of the PACT Act, the VA pays for it, she said.

“Right here in Nevada, tens and thousands of veterans have been exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, other toxic substances while serving our country and until recently, the system didn’t provide benefits to cover the critical and often life saving health care services that these veterans need and have earned because we earned them,” Graham said.

At the DNC, speakers highlighted Walz’s military record and his work in Congress to pass the post-9/11 GI bill that helps veterans who served after Sept. 10, 2001, to pay for school or cover expenses while training for a job.

The Trump-Vance campaign and Republican veterans offered counter programming on Wednesday, lambasting Democrats over their policies regarding veterans and the military.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., highlighted at a press conference on Wednesday Biden’s withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan that resulted in 13 service members being killed. Biden has faced criticism over that action, and it was a point of attack at the Republican National Convention, where the families of the fallen service members were brought out on stage. Waltz called it a “stain on our national conscience” and criticized Democrats for not acknowledging it all week.

The congressman also criticized the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate for not supporting the VA Mission Act, a bipartisan bill signed by Trump that gave veterans a choice in their health care. It allowed for a veteran to visit a local provider if a VA hospital was too far away or the wait list was too long, Waltz said.

“It’s still billed to the VA, but they can go get the health care that they need. It was the most important legislation for the veteran community in decades. You know who voted against it? Walz did,” the congressman said.

In a statement at the time, Walz, a ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said the act was better than the current program but lacked a sustainable funding source “to ensure that veterans’ access to quality healthcare as well as other vital VA programs continue to be sufficiently funded, administered, and protected in the long term.”

When Vice President Kamala Harris was a senator, she voted for the bill. Both of Nevada’s senators at the time, Cortez Masto and Republican Dean Heller, also voted for the bill.

Nevada’s Senate race

The fight for the veteran vote can be seen perfectly in the Senate race in Nevada, which has the seventh-highest population of veterans in the U.S. Rosen faces what is expected to be a close race against Republican Sam Brown, whose story of surviving an explosion while on duty in Afghanistan has gripped Republican voters in Nevada.

While Rosen isn’t a veteran, she comes from a military family; her father served in World War II, and her uncle, grandfather and father-in-law also served in the military, she said. She considers herself a strong advocate for Nevada’s servicemembers and military families and serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Since she was elected to the Senate in 2018, Rosen helped establish a Veterans Business Outreach Center in Nevada that helps about 20,000 veteran business owners apply for grants, according to Rosen. She, alongside fellow Nevada Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, also pushed for funding for a new veterans hospital in Reno.

“I know Nevadans want someone with a proven bipartisan track record for delivering for veterans, for delivering for everyone,” Rosen said in August during a campaign event with veterans. “And that’s what I promised to do. It’s what I have done.”

Her opponent, Brown, started a small business helping veterans get access to medications they need when the VA falls short.

“Sam gets his healthcare through the VA, he earns a military pension, he transitioned from active duty to civilian life … there’s no one running in this Senate race who understands the struggles veterans face more, because Sam Brown lives it every day,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

Brown’s spokesperson said the Biden administration made health care accessibility more difficult for veterans by attacking the VA Mission Act.

“Sam Brown won’t allow Nevada’s veterans to be left behind anymore. Just like he did with his small business, Sam Brown will fight to ensure that veterans get access to the healthcare and support they need. Veterans know that they can count on Sam Brown,” the spokesperson said.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.