Fighting Dems Explained

The Fighting Dems is a nickname given to more than 60 military veterans who ran for Congress as Democrats in the United States' 2006 congressional elections. Five of these candidates were elected to the House of Representatives and one was elected to the Senate. The term Fighting Dem can be applied to all non-incumbent military veterans running for Congress in 2006 as Democrats.

Other generic names have been used. Mother Jones refers to the group as "The Capitol Brigade". The Draft Zinni campaign describes them as the "Security Dems" and part of the "Blue Force".

Veterans for a Secure America

On December 20, 2005, a group of Fighting Dems met in Washington, D.C. for a strategy session and voted on a name for their coalition: Veterans for a Secure America. On February 8, 2006, nearly 40 of them met again in Washington to gather outside of the U.S. Capitol at an event hosted jointly by VSA and The Veterans’ Alliance for Security and Democracy (VetPAC). The event was led by Col. Richard Klass (USAF ret.) of VetPAC and included Senator Jack Reed (Armed Services Committee Mamber) and former Senator Max Cleland of Georgia, a Vietnam veteran who with the rest of the veterans chartered the Veterans for a Secure America (VSA). https://www.c-span.org/video/?191115-1/congressional-campaigns-veterans.

Philosophy

On October 1, 2006, retired Army Major and congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth made the weekly Democratic radio address blasting George W. Bush saying "Instead of a plan or a strategy, we get shallow slogans like 'mission accomplished' and 'stay the course,'" but "Those slogans are calculated to win an election. But they won't help us accomplish our mission in Iraq"[1] She explained that the United States needs "a Congress that will ask the tough questions and work together for solutions rather than attacking the patriotism of those who disagree". Further she said, "It is time to encourage Iraqi leaders to take control of their own country and make the tough choices that will stop the civil war and stabilize the country."[2]

List of Fighting Dems

House races

Candidates, followed by state abbreviation and district number

Senate races

2006 results

Around 9:20 p.m. on Election Day, Speaker-of-the-House-elect Nancy Pelosi came out and addressed the crowd;

The challengers in the House who managed to defeat their incumbents were Chris Carney (PA-10), Patrick Murphy (PA-08), Joe Sestak (PA-07), and Tim Walz (MN-01). Additionally, Phil Hare (IL-17) was elected to succeed fellow Democrat Lane Evans. In the Senate, Jim Webb (VA) was elected. A post-election analysis revealed that while the Democratic veteran candidates were the most salient in 2006, Republican veteran candidates enjoyed higher vote shares that year on average.[6]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Candidate-veteran blasts Bush on Iraq . Associated Press . 2006-10-01 . Dennis . Conrad . 2006-10-01.
  2. Web site: Democratic Radio Address . C-SPAN . September 30, 2006 . February 1, 2022.
  3. Web site: Welcome to johnchagnon.com! - Статьи . Johnchagnon2006.com . 2010-10-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713113122/http://www.johnchagnon2006.com/index.php?pr=Home_Page . 2011-07-13 .
  4. http://warrenreports.tpmcafe.com/blog/trillian/2006/sep/10/super_tuesday_for_fighting_dem_vets_recap_and_overview
  5. Web site: OpenSecrets . OpenSecrets . 2010-10-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080409080117/http://www.opensecrets.org/states/election.asp?state=FL . 2008-04-09 .
  6. Teigen, Jeremy (2008). "Invoking Military Credentials in Congressional Elections 2000-2006," in Inside Defense: Understanding the U.S. Military in the 21st Century by D. Reveron & J. Stein .