Updated October 31, 2026, 8:40 p.m. ET
Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore had commanded the Naval Reserve for a year when she was fired by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, one of about two dozen high-ranking military leaders he purged or forced into retirement.
Unemployed for the first time after 35 years of service in the Navy, Lacore decided to run for Congress as a Democrat in South Carolina’s 1st District. Or, more precisely, she decided to run against Hegseth, using her campaign to fiercely criticize his handling of the military and highlight his responsibility for the war in Iran.
Hegseth has become the public face of President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war in the Middle East, which defined the midterm elections. But a series of scandals during Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon have provided Democrats with enough fodder for attacks that go beyond criticism of the war.
Democrats across the country have repeatedly brought up Hegseth’s use of Signal, the commercial messaging app, to discuss a sensitive military operation, his ill-fated attempt to livestream an execution and his fixation on troops’ testosterone levels. Hegseth has also faced backlash for pushing his evangelical Christianity at the Pentagon, most recently creating an Office of Religious Affairs that reports directly to him.
In South Carolina, Lacore explained how his career was upended by the Pentagon staff purge, which critics denounced for disproportionately targeting women and senior black officers.
It’s a strategy that has made Hegseth a foil to Democrats on the campaign trail. Criticism of the Pentagon’s leadership particularly resonated with voters in Lacore’s majority-Republican district, which Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024.
“People are just concerned about the injection of politics and religion into the military,” Lacore said in an interview with USA TODAY. “People who know the military know there is no room for either. This weakens the fabric that makes our military strong.”
According to the latest polls, Lacore is neck and neck with Republican candidate Jenny Honeycutt. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, recently changed its election forecast to “roll” after predicting a Republican victory all year.
The various controversies surrounding Hegseth and “the fact that he is the poster child for the war — which is going poorly and has driven up gas prices — combine to make him a politically ripe target,” said Jeffrey Liszt, a partner at Impact Research, a Democratic polling firm.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, said at a recent rally that a Democratic majority would “run Pete Hegseth out of town.” Former President Barack Obama diverted Hegseth’s attention to physical appearances at a campaign rally in Ohio. Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, said “Hegseth is not fit” to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth and Trump struggled to find a response to criticism in the final days of the campaign. On October 29, Trump criticized the Republican-led impeachment attempt against Hegseth and said the war in Iran would end “very soon,” a comment he has repeated for nearly eight months.
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, wrote in a statement that Hegseth’s team is focused “solely on peace through strength and ensuring our warfighters have everything they need to succeed.”
A candidate of Hegseth’s creation
The Lacore District, home to many U.S. retirees and military personnel, stretches along the South Carolina coast from Beaufort to Charleston.
Until recently, the seat was considered a GOP stronghold. Rep. Nancy Mace, the Republican incumbent, won handily her last two elections, creating the impression that the district was out of reach for Democrats. Mace, a former Trump ally, chose to run for governor of South Carolina and lost in the Republican primary. Trump did not endorse Mace after his breakup with the president over the release of Jeffrey Epstein files.
John Moffett, a Democratic strategist based in South Carolina, said in an interview that the district is “very difficult, but not impossible to win” for a Democrat in this political environment.
“If anyone can do it, then Nancy Lacore certainly can,” he added.
Lacore, who served in the Navy for more than three decades, said the story of his abrupt dismissal “came up organically in almost every room.” She said it helped her connect with Republican veterans who were increasingly wary of Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.
Although Lacore emphasized affordability and the price of fuel in her conversations with voters, she said Hegseth’s “mismanagement of the military” became a more widespread concern in the final months of the campaign.
“People are frustrated, scared and tired of everything that’s going on,” she said. “Most of the time, people want confidence. They want me to be able to tell them that everything is OK, that once Hegseth comes out of this, our military will recover and bounce back.”
If Lacore manages to turn the neighborhood around, Hegseth will be an important part of it.
“There is some irony in the fact that Hegseth may have inadvertently helped create one of the most formidable Democratic congressional candidates in South Carolina that we have seen in a very long time,” Moffett said.
Lacore said the Pentagon chief shouldn’t hold her breath waiting for a thank you card if she wins on Nov. 3. She would rather vote to impeach him.
“I certainly think he deserves” to be indicted, Lacore said. “But I’m hoping that maybe everything will be sorted before I even get there.”
Efforts to depose Hegseth
Democrats have pledged to seek oversight and accountability at the Pentagon if they return to the majority, but they may not need to wait until a new Congress meets in January to vote to impeach Hegseth.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on September 15, accusing the Pentagon chief of violating the Constitution by pursuing the war in Iran without congressional approval.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, avoided the potentially damaging vote on Hegseth’s impeachment in September by canceling the House of Representatives’ final day of work and sending members home early for an eight-week break before the midterm elections.
Massie’s decision to launch the impeachment effort gave Democratic candidates more ammunition to attack Hegseth and helped make their criticisms more credible in the eyes of voters, according to Liszt.
“Hegseth’s impeachment started with Republicans, not Democrats,” he said. “That’s part of the reason he’s an opportune target.”
Democrats have placed Hegseth at the center of their campaign rallies in battleground states that will determine control of Congress. During a speech at a rally in Ohio on Oct. 24, Obama accused the Pentagon chief of misplacing his priorities as the Trump administration struggles to end a war in the Middle East that has upended the global economy and left the average price of gasoline above $4 a gallon.
“He’s very focused on important issues, like jaws and the testosterone levels of our troops, and live executions, because that’s how he thinks you cultivate that manly, warrior spirit,” Obama said. “How much time do you think this Secretary of Defense spends looking in the mirror in the morning? »
The criticism isn’t just coming from Democratic lawmakers. Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, recently called his vote to confirm Hegseth “the biggest regret of my career.”
Trump defended Hegseth in remarks to reporters before heading to a midterm rally in South Carolina on October 29.
“He’s doing a great job. He’s a great warrior,” Trump said. “I think he’s the best at his job in many, many years and a lot of people agree with that.”
Massie, however, vowed to renew his efforts to remove Hegseth if he still leads the Pentagon when lawmakers return to Washington on November 9. The effort would receive broad support from Democrats and potentially even a handful of Republicans in Congress.
“Trump should fire Hegseth to avoid Hegseth’s impeachment. It’s the honorable thing to do,” Massie wrote on social media. “The House sat early to avoid the vote, so I will reintroduce Hegseth’s articles of impeachment when we return for the lame duck session, regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections.”
Gn usa
