Female Veterans Calling Themselves ‘The Hell Cats’ Are Running for Congress in Hopes of Repeating Success of ‘The Squad’

Democrats are hoping that they can repeat history in next year’s midterm elections with a newly assembled “squad” of female candidates aiming to turn the House blue.They call themselves “The Hell Cats.” The quartet of first-term lawmakers and congressional hopefuls, all military veterans, is positioning itself to provide the next wave of progressive firepower. They appear to be hell-bent on flipping the House back to Democrats in 2026.“We’ve served our country in uniform. Now we are stepping up to serve in Congress,” a former U.S. Marine Corps captain and Iraq War veteran, Maura Sullivan, said in a video posted on X where the Hell Cats introduced themselves to the public.Ms. Sullivan, a senior official with the Obama administration who is running in New Hampshire, appears in the introductory video along with three other female veterans.They are: Rebecca Bennett who is running in New Jersey; JoAnna Mendoza, who is seeking a seat in her home state of Arizona; and Cait Conley who is running for office in New York’s Hudson Valley Region. All four are running in toss-up districts.“We are the Hell Cats,” Ms. Conley says near the end of the video. “Let’s f—— go.”The group’s moniker is in tribute to a group of more than 300 women recruited for clerical and administrative work during World War I to free up men for frontline deployment. Nicknamed the “Lady Hell Cats,” they achieved something radical for the era: equal pay with men of the same rank. Though the program disbanded after the war, it marked a pivotal moment in women’s military service.“The original Lady Hell Cats broke barriers a century ago,” Ms. Mendoza told Insider NJ. “We’re reviving their legacy — but this time, to defend the country we love from division and corruption.”There was no immediate response to the announcement from official Republican circles but the X posting attracted a barrage of mostly negative comments, many of them expressing disdain for any and all Democrats. “You’re a bunch of washed-up veterans trying to leverage your service for political gain,” wrote one commenter in a lengthy diatribe.“The audacity to compare yourselves to the first female Marines of World War I is laughable. Those women were trailblazers in a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote. You? You’re just a bunch of opportunists riding the coattails of their legacy.”The Hell Cats’ arrival signals a new phase in the evolution of Democratic women in Congress. The original Squad burst onto the scene after the 2018 midterms and rewrote the rules of progressive politics with controversial policy demands and social media savvy. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib pushed ambitious and divisive proposals like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All into the national conversation. As it grew to include members like Greg Casar, Summer Lee and Delia Ramirez, the Squad became the standard-bearer for the party’s progressive wing.That same election cycle produced a more centrist bloc – the so-called “Badasses,” a bloc of moderate Democratic women who flipped competitive seats by running as pragmatic centrists.Elissa Slotkin, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill — all military or intelligence veterans — campaigned on national security credentials and promises of bipartisan problem-solving, offering a counterweight to the Squad.All three have moved on to other offices, with Ms. Spanberger and Ms. Sherrill recently winning gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey respectively.The Hell Cats say they are looking to emulate the success of those women in the upcoming midterm elections.“America needs leaders that will put country above politics and patriotism above partisanship,” Ms. Conley told Insider NJ. “When we put on the uniform it was to defend all Americans and fight for a better future for all of America. That’s why we are doing this now. “After 16 years in uniform and multiple combat tours, I refuse to allow politicians to ruin what we’ve fought and sacrificed for.”

Female Veterans Calling Themselves ‘The Hell Cats’ Are Running for Congress in Hopes of Repeating Success of ‘The Squad’

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