As Americans Say Courage Is Vanishing in Washington, a New Book Profiles Political Leaders Who Prove It Isn’t
As Americans Say Courage Is Vanishing in Washington, a New Book Profiles Political Leaders Who Prove It Isn’t
62% of Americans see courage in their own communities; just 30% see it in Washington. Two-thirds say elected officials are less courageous than they were 20 years ago, while 79% say courage from elected leaders is vital to the nation’s future.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new national survey from With Honor and Gallup released June 24 finds that Americans have not lost faith in courage. They see it in their neighborhoods, their families, and those who serve. What they have stopped seeing — and what they say has been fading for two decades — is courage in Washington.
The With Honor–Gallup survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults reveals a striking divide. Sixty-two percent say people in their own communities demonstrate courage in their actions. Just 30% say the same of elected leaders – a 32-point gap. When asked which groups they most associate with courage, Americans put first responders (60%) and military personnel (41%) at the top with elected leaders near the bottom.
Yet the survey’s most striking finding may be what Americans still agree on. Ninety-six percent say it is important for everyday citizens to act with courage; 95% say the same of elected officials. What makes them most optimistic about America’s future? Not our freedoms, our diversity, or our innovation, but people willing to stand up for what they believe is right.
Courage also runs close to home. Seven in ten Americans say someone’s courage has personally inspired them, usually someone in their own life rather than a public figure. The people they name most are friends, parents, and family members.
Three years ago, before this survey existed, Rye Barcott started writing about the leaders who are the exception. A Marine veteran and co-founder of With Honor, Barcott spent years profiling ten elected officials — five Democrats and five Republicans — who had taken principled stands at real personal cost. What he found mirrors what the survey now confirms: courage in public life hasn’t vanished. It’s just rare enough to be remarkable.
“Americans haven’t given up on courage. They see it in their neighbors, their parents, their friends — they just don’t see it in Washington,” said Barcott. “These ten leaders are proof that it still exists in public life. On the eve of America’s 250th anniversary, the invitation is for all of us: to choose courage, to choose service, and in doing so, to shape the nation we want to live in.”
Americans also understand that courage comes at a cost. Forty-four percent say they would be concerned about negative consequences for publicly disagreeing with people on their own side — their party, their faith community, their profession, or their friends. Forty-six percent say doing so takes significant or extraordinary courage. Those concerns are nearly identical across party lines. Among veterans, the numbers shift: military veterans report notably less fear of speaking up than non-veterans.
Courage Can Save US (Bloomsbury, June 9, 2026) is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. All author proceeds go to With Honor.
Americans are invited to share a story of courage from their own lives — a Courage Moment — at couragecansaveus.com.
Key Findings
- 62% of Americans see courage in their own communities; just 30% see it in elected leaders.
- 96% say it is important for everyday Americans to act with courage; 95% say the same of elected officials.
- 26% identify people willing to stand up for what they believe is right as their top source of optimism about America’s future — ranking ahead of our freedoms, diversity, innovation, and economic strength.
- 70% say someone’s courage has personally inspired them — most often someone they know personally.
- First responders (60%) and military personnel (41%) rank highest among groups Americans associate with courage. Elected leaders rank near the bottom.
- Roughly two-thirds believe elected officials show less courage today than they did 20 years ago.
- 44% say they would be concerned about negative consequences for publicly disagreeing with people on their own side; 46% say doing so takes significant or extraordinary courage — at nearly identical rates across party lines.
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About Courage Can Save US
Courage Can Save US (Bloomsbury, June 9, 2026) is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. It profiles ten leaders in public life — five Democrats and five Republicans — who have taken principled stands at personal cost. All author proceeds go to With Honor. Available wherever books are sold. Learn more at couragecansaveus.com.
About With Honor
With Honor is a cross-partisan organization that fights polarization by supporting principled veteran leadership in public office. Learn more at withhonor.org.
About the Survey
Results are based on a With Honor–Gallup web survey conducted May 12–22, 2026, with a random sample of 3,199 U.S. adults, members of the Gallup Panel. The margin of sampling error is ±2.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Record number of female veterans make congressional runs: ‘Service wave’
More women veterans running for Congress this year
More women, Democratic veterans running for Congress this year
The number of veterans running for federal office this cycle is up 47 percent from 2024.
The number of Democratic and women veterans running for federal office this year is at record levels as the overall number of congressional candidates with military backgrounds has surged from 2024, according to a new analysis ahead of the midterm elections.
The numbers, compiled by the non-partisan veterans advocacy group With Honor, show broader engagement by younger veterans in national politics and a significant shift in campaign dynamics, where previously veteran candidates have skewed heavily Republican.
The increased involvement comes as Congress wrestles with a series of national security issues that could decide the November midterm elections, including President Donald Trump’s war against Iran, the continued U.S. military assault on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean, and the administration’s increasingly fraught relationship with NATO allies.
“Both parties have emphasized recruiting veterans in recent cycles, but it’s really showing this year,” said Rye Barcott, co-founder and CEO of With Honor. “And as the country faces significant division and challenges, veterans are hearing that call to service again.”
Foreign policy issues typically don’t move voters as significantly as domestic and economic topics in midterm elections. But the connection between some of Trump’s overseas moves — particularly the impact of the conflict with Iran on energy prices — could change that sentiment this cycle.
With Honor is tracking 752 veterans registered to run for the House and Senate this year, the highest number since they began tracking in 2018. That total is up 47 percent from 2024 and up 20 percent from 2018, midway through Trump’s first term in office.
Democratic leaders during that 2018 cycle made a concerted effort to highlight veterans and national security voices on the campaign trail, including individuals like former New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a one-time Navy helicopter pilot.
But they are seeing even higher numbers this year. At least 294 veterans are running for Congress as party members, up nearly 30 percent from the 2018 cycle. Roughly 39 percent of candidates running in midterm contests are registered Democrats, the highest percentage since With Honor began tracking the numbers.
A Democratic strategist who has advised the party on veterans issues, granted anonymity to discuss the party’s strategy, said the effort to bring more left-leaning veterans’ voices onto the campaign trail has been stepped up in recent months amid President Donald Trump’s military moves.
“No one understands the cost of war better than veterans, and so I think you’re seeing them get off the sidelines now,” the strategist said. Party leaders hope to use that veteran clout to help emphasize the long-term costs of the war with Iran and the uncertainty of future conflicts in locations like Cuba, South America and even Greenland.
Another reason for the jump in Democratic veteran candidates is the emergence of more women with military backgrounds running for office.
With Honor researchers identified 95 women with military backgrounds who are running for House and Senate seats this year, up from 40 in 2024. Of those, 56 percent are Democrats, and only 28 percent Republicans.
Only eight women veterans are serving in Congress today: three Democrats and five Republicans. The surge in female candidates could push that number to a new record high next year.
Republicans still make up almost half of all veteran candidates, at 48 percent. At the start of the current session of Congress, only 72 of the 100 veterans in the House and Senate were members of the GOP.
The veterans included among the 752 names are a mix of well-known incumbents running for reelection — individuals like Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.) — and congressional hopefuls like Marine Corps veteran Graham Platner, running as a Democrat for Senate in Maine.
Barcott, who recently authored the book “Courage Can Save US” profiling veterans serving in national office today, said he believes the emergence of more post-9/11 veterans in prominent political roles is also driving the rise in veteran engagement.
“You look at veterans like [Maryland Gov.] Wes Moore and Vice President JD Vance, Mikie Sherrill, that shows folks what you can achieve,” he said.
About 41 percent of the 752 veterans running for office this year served after September 2001, making them the largest generation of veterans on the campaign trail. About one third of veterans serving in Congress now were in the military during that period.
The larger number of veterans running for office doesn’t guarantee an increase in the number of candidates with military backgrounds who are elected to office.
The number of veterans in Congress peaked in 1969, following years of mandatory military service for young American men in the Vietnam War. That year 402 veterans — 75 percent of the House and Senate membership — boasted some prior military service.
The number has slowly decreased since then, according to congressional records. The total hasn’t been above 20 percent since 2009. But that number still is over-represented for the American public, where about 6 percent of the adult population has served.
This article ran as an exclusive in POLITICO by author Leo Shane III. Read the press release from the Associated Press here.
With Honor Action Tracks Record 752 Veterans Running for Congress in 2026, Including Historic Surge in Women Veterans
With Honor Action Tracks Record 752 Veterans Running for Congress in 2026, Including Historic Surge in Women Veterans
New data show veterans running in all 50 states, a 47% increase from 2024, and a 137% jump in women veterans seeking federal office.
Washington, D.C. — June 9, 2026 — With Honor Action today released new data showing a wave of military veterans stepping forward to serve in Congress: 752 veterans across all 50 states have run or are running for federal office this cycle, the highest number With Honor Action has tracked since it began monitoring veteran candidates in 2018.
The figure marks a 47% increase from 2024, when With Honor Action tracked 513 veterans running for federal office, and surpasses the previous high of 744 veteran candidates in 2022.
The most dramatic growth is among women veterans. With Honor Action is tracking 95 women veterans running or who have run for federal office in 2026, up from 40 in 2024 — a 137% increase and the highest number the organization has ever tracked.
The updated numbers build on public reporting earlier this year by The 19th News that women veterans were already running for Congress in record-breaking numbers. At the time, The 19th reported that 71 women veterans were running in 2026. With Honor Action’s latest tracking shows that the number has continued to rise as the midterm cycle accelerates.
“At a time when Americans are exhausted by division and hungry for leaders who know what it means to serve something larger than themselves, veterans are stepping forward in historic numbers,” said Rye Barcott, Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor and author of Courage Can Save US: Ten Extraordinary Americans and the Fight for Our Future. “This is not a red wave or a blue wave — it is a service wave. These candidates come from different parties and different branches of the military, but they share lived experience in mission, sacrifice, accountability, and putting country first.”
Roughly 41% of veteran candidates tracked this cycle are post-9/11 veterans, signaling that a new generation shaped by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is continuing to enter public life.
The data are being released as Bloomsbury publishes Barcott’s new book, Courage Can Save US, which profiles ten public servants — five Democrats and five Republicans — who carried their ethos of service into public life. The book includes leaders such as New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Navy veteran and the first female military veteran elected governor in U.S. history.
By the numbers:
- 752 veterans running or who have run for Congress in the 2026 election cycle
- A 47% increase from the 513 veterans tracked in the 2024 election cycle
- 363 Republicans, 294 Democrats, and 95 as independents or third-party candidates
- 48.2% Republicans, 39.15% Democrats (the highest percentage of Democrats since With Honor Action’s tracking), and 12.65% as independents or third-party candidates
- Roughly 41% are post-9/11 veterans
- 95 women veterans running or who have run for Congress in 2026
- A 137% increase from the 40 women veterans tracked in the 2024 election cycle
- 53 Democrats, 28 Republicans, 14 as independent or third-party candidates
- 56% Democrats, 29% Republicans, and 15% as independents or third-party candidates
With Honor Action has tracked veteran candidates through candidate databases, FEC filings, news reports, and other online sources, confirming both candidacy and veteran status. The 2026 data include candidates for the U.S. House and Senate, congressional special elections, and candidates who announced campaigns but later withdrew or suspended their campaigns. The numbers reflect With Honor Action’s tracking as of June 1, 2026, and may change as additional filing deadlines close.
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About With Honor
With Honor Action fights polarization in Congress by supporting principled veterans across party lines who pledge to serve with integrity, civility, and courage. With Honor Action works alongside the bipartisan For Country Caucus in Congress to pass critical legislation for our nation. With Honor Action is a 501(c)(4), which serves as the organization’s policy and social-welfare arm. With Honor has an affiliated federally registered “super PAC” called With Honor Fund III. Learn more about our work at WithHonor.org.
General Richard B. Myers, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joins With Honor Action Advisory Board Amid Surge in Military Veterans Running for Office Nationwide
General Richard B. Myers, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joins With Honor Action Advisory Board Amid Surge in Military Veterans Running for Office Nationwide
Washington, D.C. — June 8, 2026 — With Honor Action today announced that retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, who served as the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has joined its Advisory Board.
General Myers led the U.S. military through the earliest stages of the Global War on Terrorism. He was sworn in as Chairman on October 1, 2001, twenty days after the September 11 attacks, and held the post until his retirement in 2005. As Chairman, he was the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military adviser to the President.
A command pilot with more than 4,100 flying hours, including over 600 combat hours in Vietnam, General Myers served more than 40 years in the U.S. Air Force. Before becoming Chairman, he was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and commanded U.S. Space Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Pacific Air Forces, and U.S. Forces Japan. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. After leaving uniform, he held the Colin L. Powell Chair for National Security, Leadership, Character and Ethics at the National Defense University and served as the 14th president of Kansas State University, his alma mater, from 2016 to 2022.
“General Myers led during one of the most consequential periods in our nation’s history, and he did it with the courage and integrity our work depends on,” said Rye Barcott, CEO and Co-Founder of With Honor Action. “His judgment will strengthen our mission to support principled veteran leadership and reduce polarization in Congress.”
Barcott first met General Myers in 2001 through his undergraduate thesis advisor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Military History Professor Richard Kohn, an expert in civil-military relations who previously served as the Chief of the Air Force’s historical program. Kohn knows that General Myers will add significant experience, important insights, and keen judgments that will contribute to With Honor Action’s continued success.
With Honor Action previously collaborated with General Myers and his wife, Mary Jo, to provide assistance to our Afghan allies and address bipartisan national security and humanitarian concerns.
“I’m delighted to join With Honor Action as an Advisory Board member,” said General Richard B. Myers, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Their support of a bipartisan approach to problems is consistent with America’s founding 250 years ago. Our founding fathers didn’t always agree, but they were able to find compromise for the common good.”
“Congratulations to General Myers on joining the With Honor Action Advisory Board. I was a Lieutenant Colonel and a Colonel when he served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and I’ve long admired his service and remarkable leadership throughout his more than forty years in uniform. He was the leader we needed as Chairman in the days immediately following the attacks of September 11th. With Honor Action will be stronger for his judgment and his character,” said Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), a Founding Co-Chair of the For Country Caucus and retired Air Force Brigadier General. “I’ve seen that organization’s impact firsthand. As a Founding Co-Chair of the For Country Caucus, I worked alongside With Honor Action to bring veterans from both parties together and put country before party. Together we’ve helped pass more than 200 bipartisan laws to strengthen our national security, support our veterans, and renew a culture of national service. That work proved something I’ve always believed — bipartisan solutions last.”
“General Richard Myers served our nation with great distinction, and I am delighted to hear that he is joining the Advisory Board of With Honor Action, an important organization that works alongside the bipartisan For Country Caucus of veterans in Congress,” said Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), a Founding Vice Chair of the For Country Caucus, Air Force veteran and the daughter and granddaughter of Naval aviators who flew P-3s.
General Myers joins With Honor Action amid a surge of military veterans running for Congress in all 50 states, an increase of nearly 47% over the 2024 election cycle, as well as a record number of women veteran candidates, as reported in POLITICO.
General Myers joins an Advisory Board that includes the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen; former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster; former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle; 44th Surgeon General of the Army Lt. Gen. Nadja West; Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Florent Groberg; and former U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Rob Portman.
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About With Honor
With Honor Action fights polarization in Congress by supporting principled veterans across party lines who pledge to serve with integrity, civility, and courage. With Honor Action works alongside the bipartisan For Country Caucus in Congress to pass critical legislation for our nation. With Honor Action is a 501(c)(4), which serves as the organization’s policy and social-welfare arm. With Honor has an affiliated federally registered “super PAC” called With Honor Fund III. Learn more about our work at WithHonor.org.
This press release was published by the Associated Press.