Author: Helen Coster
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cait Conley kicked off her congressional campaign with a series of cellphone videos in which she talked about affordability, health care and other policy initiatives while lifting weights in her garage.
She calls the series “Reps and Real Talk,” a nod to the former Army Special Operations officer’s dual identity, which she hopes will allow her to win the 2026 election and flip her New York congressional district, one of the most politically competitive in the country, from Republican to Democratic.
Conley is part of the Hellcats, a group of four Democratic women with military backgrounds running for Congress in next year’s midterm elections. Democrats need to flip three Republican seats to win a House majority, which would give them the power to thwart Trump’s legislative agenda and investigate his administration.
The Hellcats were named in tribute to the first female Marines in World War I and included a retired Marine training instructor, a former Navy helicopter pilot, a former Marine captain and a former Army special operations officer. They have campaigned as a unit from the start, taking inspiration from the so-called “Bad Guy Caucus,” a group of five Democratic women with national security credentials who flipped Republican-held seats in 2018.
Unlike a group that stamped its mark upon taking office, the Hellcats leaned into their own identity early on. They came up with the nickname in the spring after months of texting in a group chat.
They face challenges. Conley, 40, must win a crowded primary in suburban New York in June before taking on Congressman Mike Lawler, who defeated the Democratic incumbent in 2022. Joanna Mendoza, a retired Marine running for Congress in Arizona’s 6th District, trails Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in fundraising totals. Maura Sullivan, who lost a crowded New Hampshire primary in 2018 after moving to the state in 2017, must overcome being labeled a carpetbagger in previous campaigns.
Delany Bomar, regional communications director for the Republican National Committee, said none of these Democrats can defeat “battle-tested candidates who are delivering real results in their districts.”
“If any of these Democrats escape a toxic primary, they will be forced to deal with their controversial past, from stealing to deleting wild tweets,” Bomar said in a statement.
In the early weeks of the campaign, each Hellcat carried a similar message: Their military training and service ethos made them well-suited to disrupt Washington’s dysfunction.
“Veterans are mission-focused,” Mendoza, 49, said. “You don’t ask people to your left or right what their politics are. You solve problems, find compromises, and accomplish the mission.”
Campaign strategists say candidates’ backgrounds can help them reach across partisan divides, dispel gender stereotypes that sometimes plague female candidates and prove tough without sacrificing likeability. They point to the success of former Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, who won tough congressional races in New Jersey and Virginia in 2018.
Both were elected governors of their respective states last month.
They say three of the four candidates have children, which helps make the candidates relatable and effective messaging in the affordability campaign.
Former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett is running in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, and her campaign website features a photo of Bennett standing in front of a helicopter during a promotion ceremony. She held her baby girl.
“I’ve led missions in some of the most challenging environments on Earth, in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night, where there’s no room for error, and I’ve gotten the job done every time,” Bennett, 38, said.
“And, I’m a mother, and I understand the challenges our district faces because my family deals with them too.”
“Servant Leadership”
The Republican Party itself has a recent history of supporting female candidates with military and national intelligence credentials, including Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, an Air Force veteran, and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel.
Republican candidates have long had an advantage among veteran voters. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey showed that 63% of veteran voters identify or lean Republican, while 35% are Democrats or Democratic leaners.
This election, however, the Hellcats believe they can win over veterans by leveraging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policies on women in the military. These included Hegseth’s decision to disband a committee that advised on the welfare and treatment of female service members and to cancel a program aimed at increasing the role of women in the national security sector.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the secretary of defense destroy something that so many of us have worked so hard for,” said Sullivan, 46, who travels across New Hampshire hosting house parties for independents and first-time voters and organizing playground parties for parents who can’t attend evening events.
“American service members deserve a leader who believes in them.”
In Arizona, Mendoza is campaigning to lower household costs, strengthen national security and stabilize public office. She emphasized “servant leadership,” likening the trust troops have in their commanders to the trust voters have in their elected officials.
“It’s hard to say that if you’ve been on combat missions or served in Afghanistan or Iraq, you might not be strong enough or strong enough to serve in Congress or be a national CEO,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, a veteran who co-chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s recruiting efforts, described the candidates as “fierce warriors” well-suited to withstand the Trump administration’s attacks.
“In a competition like this, we’re not targeting one demographic or one group,” Crowe said. “That’s exactly the point, and that’s why veterans and servant leaders are the candidates we need.”
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Alistair Bell)
