TAMPA, Fla. — Darren McAuley served 26 years in the Air National Guard with worldwide combat deployments, but it was his work as a doctor at Tampa’s veterans hospital that inspired his run as a Democrat in Tampa Bay’s Congressional District 12. McAuley said he saw firsthand how workforce and budget cuts from the federal government last year cut veterans off from care. Now he’s hoping to ...

Leela Gray is one of several Democratic veterans trying to unseat a Republican incumbent in red-leaning parts of Tampa Bay. Gray is hoping to take on U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, an Air Force veteran.

Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

TAMPA, Fla. — Darren McAuley served 26 years in the Air National Guard with worldwide combat deployments, but it was his work as a doctor at Tampa’s veterans hospital that inspired his run as a Democrat in Tampa Bay’s Congressional District 12.

McAuley said he saw firsthand how workforce and budget cuts from the federal government last year cut veterans off from care. Now he’s hoping to challenge longtime GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis, whom national Democrats are targeting in a reshaped district that includes parts of Pasco and western Hillsborough counties.

Dozens of veterans are running for office in Florida this year as Democrats. Many point to a similar tipping point, when they said they could no longer stand by amid government dysfunction.

These candidates tout their service and more moderate positions as they seek to change the tide in a state where the military vote leans heavily Republican. Florida Democrats hope that veterans will convince conflicted voters to cross party lines, especially as President Donald Trump’s approval rating drops in his home state.

“We raised our hand to defend the Constitution. Congress takes the same oath, and unfortunately, we’re not seeing that same level of service over self today in Washington,” said Leela Gray, a retired brigadier general who is the top Democratic fundraiser against U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in Pinellas County.

Many of Florida’s Democratic veterans have a fundraising advantage in their primaries. They are buoyed by endorsements from organizations like VoteVets, which operates a political action committee that helps Democratic veterans running in swing states.

But as the campaigns of non-veteran progressives like state Rep. Angie Nixon (who is running for U.S. Senate) and South Florida organizer Elijah Manley (who is running for the 20th Congressional District) gain steam, Democrats are wrestling with an existential question: What tactics will actually help them win in Florida?

Democratic veterans on Tampa Bay ballots

VoteVets has endorsed a prominent veteran at the top of Democratic voters’ primary ballot next week: retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, who sacrificed his career in the Army to act as a whistleblower in Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Vindman is running for U.S. Senate, hoping to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, who is running for her first term after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to the seat in 2025. Vindman moved to South Florida with his family in 2023, initially to get away from politics, but the direction of the state and country lured him back into the fray, he said.

“The way the state is headed is deeply troubling. The way this country is heading is deeply troubling,” he said. “We need legislators and senators who are independent-minded.”

Also on VoteVets’ list of endorsements are Gray and McAuley, who face primary challenges next week, and other down-ballot veterans like Pasco County Commission candidate Stephanie Vazquez and state Sen. Brian Nathan, who notched a surprise special election win in Tampa this spring.

Each must defy the odds in areas with a Republican voter registration advantage. Nathan, for example, won by some 400 votes in a state Senate district with about 22,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

Many have adopted a similar tactic: emphasizing their service and commonsense reforms while steering clear of partisan language.

“I stay focused on the local issues,” said Vazquez, the Pasco County candidate. “My pitch when I knock on doors is, ‘I’m running to slow down reckless, unchecked development and protect the people of Pasco versus corporate interests.’ That resonates across party lines.”

Vindman and McAuley say their time in uniform has trained them to be mission-oriented rather than fixated on party affiliation.

When service members are working together to accomplish a mission, they’re not talking about politics, McAuley said.

“In the military, we talk ‘mission first and people always,’” Vindman said. “Veterans do what they say, and I think in that regard it is pretty clear the veterans will do what is necessary to deliver.”

Will veteran candidates win over enough voters?

For veterans like Gus Oliva, a Miami Republican who has swung to support Vindman, candidates with military backgrounds have proven themselves capable of leadership and sacrifice.

“In the military, we have core Army values ... loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, purpose and courage,” Oliva said.

He added that Moody’s support for the conflict in Iran is a key reason he decided to back Vindman instead.

His perspective matches what many Democratic veterans are saying about Iran.

“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to Democrats that they don’t love their country, and that they aren’t patriotic, and I just couldn’t disagree more,” Vazquez said. “We don’t want to go to war for nothing, and we don’t want loss of life, American or otherwise, for unjustified reasons.”

Democratic veterans have launched high-profile bids in red states and lost before. Take Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot who lost her Senate bid in Kentucky against Mitch McConnell by roughly 20 points in 2020.

But 2026 represents a rare opportunity for Democrats in places like Florida, said Emily Cherniack, founder of New Politics, a national advocacy group dedicated to recruiting Democratic candidates who have served in the military or local communities.

“Florida is not usually on our bingo card,” Cherniack said. “I think there is sort of the perfect storm this cycle where there are people who are registered Republicans who are really mad at the administration.”

But it’s because Democrats have suffered years of disappointing losses in Florida that some progressives are beginning to question the strategy of running more centrist candidates against Republicans.

“We tried doing that the past few times, and we’ve gotten further (away from) what we did in 2018,” when progressive candidate Andrew Gillum came inches away from beating DeSantis in the governor’s race, said Nixon, who is Vindman’s chief opponent in the U.S. Senate primary. “So clearly, that’s not the way to go.”

Jackson McMillan, a Democratic strategist who supports Nixon, argued she has more moral clarity on issues like the war in Gaza compared to Vindman. The retired lieutenant colonel said the war has gone on too long, while stopping short of calling the conflict a genocide.

“I have deep respect for his service to our country and what he did to stand up to Donald Trump ... but that doesn’t mean you’re entitled to elected office,” McMillan said. “So I think for every two voters who are persuaded by the fact that he is a white man with military history, I think there will be another 25 voters who stay on the sidelines because they can’t stand voting for him.”