CHICAGO — Democrats are hoping to wrestle veteran voters away from Republicans this year, and plan to highlight efforts to expand health care access in campaigns for some key seats. 

Central to the party’s argument is the 2022 law expanding access to health care for veterans exposed to toxins while serving overseas. That legislation has led to a sharp increase in demand at the Department of Veterans Affairs, with over 412,000 new veterans enrolled over the past year. That high level of interest has even led to a VA budget shortfall that lawmakers will be scrambling to fill in September.

Two of the Democratic senators behind that effort, Montana’s Jon Tester and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, are featuring the law in campaign advertisements, and President Joe Biden called the law “one of the most significant laws ever” in his keynote address here Monday night. 

“We have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip those we send to war and care for them and their families when they come and when they don’t,” Biden said. 

Veterans voted for President Donald Trump over Biden in 2020 by a 54% to 44% margin in 2020, according to exit polls conducted by television networks. 

Members of the Democratic National Committee’s Veterans and Military Families Council met Tuesday and vowed to push against the Republican Party’s grip on veteran voters.

“For too long, the GOP has laid claims to veterans, our nation’s defense, and all things patriotic,” Terron Sims II, a co-chair of the council, said. “That is and always has been b.s.” 

Speakers on Tuesday included Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, both veterans who were in the running to be Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ running mate, plus Gwen Walz, the wife of the running mate Harris chose, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

Trump faced criticism from speakers for a myriad of comments he has either made in public or allegedly made in private about veterans. For example, Kelly criticized Trump for saying last week that the Presidential Medal of Freedom was “much better” than the Congressional Medal of Honor, whose recipients are usually “dead” or “in very bad shape.” 

“In this election, it’s pretty clear to me which presidential candidate supports service members and veterans and which one does not,” Kelly said. 

Trump clarified his comments — which he made to praise a GOP megadonor he’d given the medal of freedom to — in an interview with a Pennsylvania  television station last week in which he called the military honor the “ultimate” honor. 

Impact of toxic exposure law

Kelly credited the Biden-Harris administration with “the largest expansion of veterans’ health care in decades” under the toxic exposure law.

“Now that’s government working the way it should, supporting veterans,” Kelly said. “Those are Kamala Harris’ values.” 

Buttigieg said that he cried in the White House when Biden signed the toxic exposure law. 

“[Biden] has made it clear that as long as he draws breath, he will back veterans and military families,” Buttigieg said. “And a Harris-Walz administration will build on that record.” 

Tester and Casey have both rolled out campaign ads featuring veterans from their states talking about receiving needed care after the enactment of the law. 

Casey also held an event in Scranton last week with the veterans group VoteVets which focused on the toxic exposure law. His race against businessman David McCormick, who is a veteran, is rated Tilt Democratic by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

Tester, who is the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is in a Toss-up race with Tim Sheehy, another businessman who is also a veteran. Tester skipped the Democratic National Convention to campaign in Montana, while Sheehy spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month. 

Sheehy has spoken extensively about his military service as a Navy SEAL in his campaign, and hosted an event with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte last year on providing tax relief for veterans. 

Democrats “absolutely” should do a better job highlighting the toxic exposure law and other efforts to boost veterans, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said in an interview. 

Biden has led the way by talking about veterans’ issues more than previous Democratic leaders and Harris should keep it up in her campaign, said Moulton, who won a Bronze Star while serving in the Marines.  

“For too long, we’ve just sat around while Republicans are willing to attack us on national security issues, veterans issues, and try to own the flag,” Moulton said.