ANALYSIS — A handful of Democratic women with national security and military backgrounds rose to power during President Donald Trump’s first term and now they’re back in the spotlight in the early days of his second term.
Democrats are leveraging them to gain back some ground after a disappointing 2024, just like they did after Trump’s surprise victory in 2016.
Among those national security Democrats is Michigan’s Elissa Slotkin, who was first elected to the House in 2018 after defeating GOP Rep. Mike Bishop in a competitive district outside Detroit. The former CIA analyst was the first Democrat in nearly two decades to represent the seat. Slotkin was elected to the Senate last cycle, edging out former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers to keep Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat in Democratic hands.
Now Slotkin is on the national stage as she prepares to deliver the Democratic response to Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. It’s a coveted opportunity even though rising political stars from both parties are often humbled by criticism over their inability to match the gravitas of the president or difficulty in striking the right tone.
Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, who delivered the rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union last year, was only the latest in a list of infamous first responders, including Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky (2017), Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (2013) and Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana (2009).
But Slotkin isn’t the only national security-oriented Democratic woman from the 2018 class in the national focus this year.
Former covert CIA counter-terrorism officer Abigail Spanberger was elected to the House in 2018, 50 percent to 48 percent over GOP Rep. Dave Brat in a Richmond-area district. Spanberger, who was reelected two more times in very close and competitive races, decided not to run last year to focus on her 2025 bid for governor.
She’s now the Democratic front-runner in the race to replace GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who can’t run for a consecutive term due to state law. The Virginia contest will be Democrats’ highest-profile opportunity to regain their footing after Trump’s 2024 win, albeit in a Democratic-leaning state.
Due to the dearth of races this year and the close proximity of the Virginia elections to many national political analysts and strategists in the Washington area, a Spanberger victory would get a disproportionate amount of attention and could even push her into the 2028 conversation.
Spanberger might not even be the only member from the 2018 House class of national security women to get elected governor this year. Retired Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill is a top contender for governor in New Jersey. Unlike Spanberger, Sherrill must first tackle a competitive Democratic primary against Rep. Josh Gottheimer and others.
Even though Trump lost New Jersey by a similar margin to Virginia, a Spanberger victory would probably be perceived as more impressive considering she would have flipped a governorship held by Republicans. But both Sherrill and Spanberger are poised to be near-term spokespersons for a Democratic Party without a clear leader.
Retired Air Force officer Chrissy Houlahan was also part of that initial group of Democratic women from national security backgrounds. She was first elected in 2018 to an open seat in the Philadelphia suburbs that GOP Rep. Ryan A. Costello was vacating after it was redrawn to become more Democratic. Houlahan has been reelected three times with at least 56 percent of the vote and serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees.
Retired Navy officer Elaine Luria was another member of this class of 2018, defeating GOP Rep. Scott Taylor in Virginia’s 2nd District and winning a rematch two years later. But she lost reelection to Republican Jen Kiggans, 52 percent to 48 percent, in 2022. Kiggans won a competitive reelection race last cycle, 51 percent to 47 percent, but could face another tough contest in the midterms in a Virginia Beach-based district with a high concentration of federal employees and military families.
Through the end of the year, it looks like there’s a chance for a mini-resurgence of these Democratic women on the frontline of opposition to Trump. But as the party turns toward 2026 and into 2028, it’s entirely unclear what type of candidate Democratic primary voters will be looking for to win a presidential race again.
The post Slotkin leads return of the national security women for Democrats appeared first on Roll Call.
