Meet the Hell Cats — a key to Democrats’ hopes of taking the House

This story was originally reported by Mariel Padilla of The 19th. Meet Mariel and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

A few days after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Rebecca Bennett was standing in her bathroom talking to her husband when a switch flipped. “No one is coming to save us; we have to save ourselves,” she thought. That’s when she knew she had to run for office.

“I’m the kind of person that runs at problems, and I just had to do everything I could to stand up and fight for this country because I love it,” said Bennett, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and mother of two daughters. “For me, this is about continuing to serve our country in a new capacity, but really it’s about fighting for the version of the country that I want to leave for my daughters.”

Bennett, a Democrat, is running in a competitive race to unseat Republican Thomas Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Her platform prioritizes affordability, health care and national security. Bennett’s campaign has raised more than $1.9 million, the highest amount among the 10 Democrats vying for the seat, according to the latest campaign data released last week.

That day with her husband in 2024, “I remember standing there and telling him that there are people having these conversations all across the country,” Bennett said. “I remember just having this faith that there were other people out there like me that were doing the exact same thing and stepping up. And I got goosebumps.”

And she was right: A few months later, she was introduced to Cait Conley, a combat veteran and national security expert running in New York. Later she met JoAnna Mendoza and Maura Sullivan, Marine veterans running for Congress in Arizona and New Hampshire, respectively. If elected, Mendoza and Sullivan would be the first women Marine veterans in Congress. The four women, all Democrats, formed a fast friendship and started a Signal group chat that Mendoza named the “Hell Cats,”  a reference to the first women Marines who served in World War I.

Bennett said the Hell Cats were inspired by the wave of Democratic women veterans and former national security officials — Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia— who ran for Congress in 2018 and flipped seats. Those women called themselves the “Badasses.” (Slotkin is now in the Senate, Spanberger and Sherrill are governors of their states, Houlahan is still in the House and Luria is running again after losing her seat in 2022.)

More women veterans than ever are running for Congress this year, according to data from With Honor, a bipartisan nonprofit that helps veterans run for Congress. In 2018, 54 women veterans, both incumbents and non-incumbents, officially ran for Congress. In 2026, that number is 71 — and will likely grow, with five months remaining until the last candidate filing deadlines. More than 60 percent of these women veterans are Democrats.

The Hell Cats said they are frustrated by rising costs of living, unaffordable health care, increasing polarization stoked by a divisive administration and lack of collaboration in politics. These women believe they are the kind of new leaders that will strengthen the Democratic Party’s credibility and bring results in Congress.

Democrats are feeling optimistic going into the midterms, with Trump’s approval ratings hovering around 40 percent. They need to pick up just a few seats to take control of the House, and the Hell Cats hope their backgrounds in the military and national security will be exactly what their party needs in their swing seat races.

“When people are feeling frustrated and they’re upset about what’s going on, I just like to remind people that we can channel that into something productive: flipping the seat,” Bennett said. “That is an incredible opportunity that we in the 7th District of New Jersey have that can have an outsized impact on the future of the country.”

Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics, said that for a long time being a veteran was a boost for candidates.

“It’s only recently since we’ve had women who have served in combat in the military that they can now talk about that kind of service as candidates and that same commitment to country that men have been able to use forever,” Walsh said.

About 55 percent of Americans say military service makes them more likely to vote for a candidate, and more than 80 percent of Americans agree that veterans possess strong leadership skills, according to a Gallup-With Honor Institute survey conducted in August 2025.

Walsh said that often voters say women don’t have the strength, courage or foreign policy understanding to lead. Women veterans can take that concern or stereotype off the table.

Mendoza, who grew up in a rural farming community before serving in the Marines, said she retired from the military after having her son. Now, her son is 9, and Mendoza said she felt a call to serve her country again as she wrestled with the questions: “What is happening to our country? Will my son have rights? Will he still have a democracy?”

Mendoza’s campaign has raised more than $2.9 million, according to the latest campaign data released last week. One elderly woman on a fixed income, living off Social Security, told Mendoza that she is giving $1 to the campaign each month until the election as her way of fighting back against Republican policies and the state of the country, including stepped-up actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mendoza is running in an Arizona district that borders Mexico to unseat Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani, a Mexican immigrant who has a record of voting for a crackdown on immigration and more enforcement.

“It’s really humbling to hear from people that are struggling to make ends meet, but they understand the severity of where we are in our country right now,” Mendoza said. “I think people are scared, especially with all of the ICE activity. There is something new every day; it seems like the headlines continue to get worse, and we cannot escape it.”

Mendoza said she talks to the Hell Cats practically every day. Like a “buddy check” in the Army, the group chat gives them a space to talk about what they’re going through. They share news, operational advice and execution strategies. They discuss all the ways they’re shocked and horrified by the current administration’s actions. And they share news of other veterans taking the leap into politics.

“When you see other people jumping in and you understand the oath of service, you say to yourself, ‘Shit, they’re jumping into the fight — I need to get in there too,’” Mendoza said. “And I think that’s why we’re starting to see so many veterans step up to run as Democrats.”

According to With Honor data, more than 560 veterans are running for Congress this cycle — about half are Republicans, 42 percent are Democrats and 7 percent are Independents. It’s the highest percentage of Democrats recorded.

“Look, Democrats have conceded the American flag and what it means to be a patriot to the Republican Party, and we need to take that back because that does not belong to one political party,” Mendoza said.

Conley, the daughter of a U.S. postal worker and a construction worker, grew up in the Hudson Valley, where her working-class family has lived for generations. She was a junior in high school when the 9/11 attacks devastated her community and the nation and ultimately led her to a decade of service in the Special Operations community. In her final two years in uniform, Conley served as the director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council staff, where she oversaw security in the 2024 elections.

“In the days that followed the election, when the mission was over, we sat and reflected on what transpired,” Conley said. “We reflected on how much it matters to get leaders of character and public servants back into the political arena. I know we need less politicians in political office and more leaders who are going to put the public first.”

Soon after, she felt an urgency to do more. Conley is now running for New York’s 17th District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Conley said she wants to help rebuild a country where the middle class feels like the American Dream is still real. Conley has criticized Lawler for supporting a House budget resolution that would likely cut funds to Medicaid and food aid programs.

“I didn’t fight overseas for our freedoms just to watch the freedoms of Americans be clawed back right here at home,” Conley said.

She decided to run for Congress and soon after met the Hell Cats.

“On this journey, friendship has been such a special thing,” Conley said. “Looking at all of the things I’ve ever done in life, and certainly all of the hardest ones, you accomplish because of the team you build. And it has been so incredibly special to be able to take this type of challenge on with fellow veterans and servants who are also in this because they believe in this country.”

Conley’s campaign has raised more than $1.9 million, with the vast majority coming from individual donors, according to the latest campaign data released last week.

“Women veterans know the importance of delivering results, and people are so badly hoping for a leadership they can believe in again,” Conley said. “It’s not about self-promotion or advancement. It’s about public service. And I do think we have a no-nonsense approach to life where we set out to do the hard because we know it must be done, and excuses don’t cut it.”

Sullivan, a Marine Iraq veteran and former Obama administration official and mother of three, said she grew up in a military family with both of her grandfathers serving in World War II. She was taught the importance of a life of service — and she sees a pressing need in the country now.

“I’ve fought for this country, and I’m sure as heck not going to give up on it,” Sullivan said. “We’re seeing polarization, political violence, attacks on our institutions and attacks on the way of life.”

Sullivan said people in the competitive 1st District of New Hampshire — currently represented by Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat, who is running for a seat in the Senate this year —  are not asking for anything unreasonable: decent jobs, affordable health care, good public schools, clean air and water, low energy costs, and safe neighborhoods for kids to grow up in. And that’s why she said she is running for office.

Sullivan’s campaign has raised more than $1.9 million, more than any other Democrat or Republican in her race, according to the latest campaign data released last week.

“We, the Hell Cats, are the leaders that this moment requires,” Sullivan said. “These are serious times, and they call for serious people. And we have a saying among us that steel sharpens steel. We make each other better.”

Erika Cornelius Smith, a director of research strategy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said even as more women veterans run for office, structural barriers persist,  including recruitment pipeline problems, inaccessible fundraising networks and stereotypes about authority.

“With women veterans, it’s like two forward, one step sideways as the credibility boost from their service meets the gender double bind,” said Cornelius Smith, author of 2022 book, “Service Above Self,” about women with military, quasimilitary or intelligence backgrounds entering political office. “They’re supposed to show strength, but be warm. They’re supposed to be decisive, but we also expect them to be soft and collaborative.”

Many of these women are also mothers, Cornelius Smith noted, and their campaigns balance the identities commander and caregiver. The Hell Cats, as a group, challenge voters’ preconceived notions about who can lead in the United States.

“They kind of embody this new archetype of women candidates, or an emerging archetype, and they’re connected to the historic lineage of women warriors, adding emotional and symbolic weight,” she said

When her first son was born, Sullivan said, her perspective on life changed and she became even more invested in the future of the country and building healthy communities for children to grow up in.

“Nobody fights harder than a mom who is also a Marine,” Sullivan said.

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