Combat veterans Tammy Duckworth, Jack Reed enlist in Alex Vindman’s Senate campaign

The last time Tammy Duckworth went to bat for Alex Vindman, she put a hold on more than 1,000 military promotions until the Pentagon confirmed the one he never got. This time, all it took was an endorsement.

Duckworth, a former Army Black Hawk pilot who lost both legs in Iraq, and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, an Army veteran and the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are backing Vindman’s campaign for U.S. Senate, the campaign announced Friday.

The endorsements add to a run of good news for the Fort Lauderdale Democrat, who lapped Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody in second-quarter fundraising and continues to consolidate support ahead of next month’s Primary.

“The path to a Democratic Senate majority runs through Florida and I am honored to earn the endorsement of Senators Jack Reed and Tammy Duckworth, fellow veterans who have continued their call to public service in the Senate,” Vindman said.

“Instead of fighting for Floridians, my opponent Ashley Moody is fighting to enrich herself, including trading more than $2 million in stocks and giving a pass to special interests that are jacking up our costs. I am not a career politician. I am a 21-year combat veteran who is ready to fight to lower costs and crush the corruption in D.C. that is driving up costs for Florida families.”

The retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, a Purple Heart recipient best known as the National Security Council aide whose testimony anchored Donald Trump’s first impeachment, raised $8.5 million in the second quarter from more than 114,000 donors, topping his own first-quarter record. That’s nearly $5 million more than Moody, whose $3.6 million quarter had national Republicans, in Vindman’s telling, “waking up in a panic.” Vindman’s campaign reports $7.3 million cash on hand.

The campaign also says its polling shows a tied race. Public surveys are less generous: the RealClearPolitics average gives Moody a 7.5-point edge, and Cook Political Report rates the contest Solid Republican.

Reed and Duckworth join an endorsement list that now includes the Miami Herald editorial board, Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, state Sen. Tina Scott Polsky, state Rep. Dan Daley, SEIU Local 1991, one of Florida’s largest healthcare unions, and the Southern Regional Council of Carpenters.

Vindman is running on his “Florida First Agenda,” targeting gas, grocery, insurance and housing costs, along with what he calls a culture of corruption in Washington.

First, though, he has to get through the Aug. 18 Primary against Jacksonville state Rep. Angie Nixon before facing Moody, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the seat in January 2025 after Marco Rubio left to run the State Department. The Nov. 3 election decides who holds the seat through 2028.

Vindman spent 21 years earning promotions the Army’s way. This November, he’s asking Florida voters for the one Washington couldn’t block.

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Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.