The Hell Cats are ready
Before Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill were governors-elect, they were Badasses. Or at least that’s what they called themselves.
The two candidates with national security backgrounds were part of a cohort of Democratic women who ran and won competitive House races in 2018. Dubbed the “Badasses,” several of the congresswomen eventually went on to win other offices, including Spanberger, a former CIA case officer who was elected the next governor of Virginia, and Sherrill, a retired Navy pilot who won the governorship in New Jersey this month. Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who represented a highly competitive section of central Michigan, was elected to the Senate last year.
Now, another group of women want to follow in their model. Self-dubbed the “Hell Cats” after the first female Marines who served in World War I, four Democratic candidates hope their military experience and pragmatic approach to addressing affordability will help them win in competitive races — and offer lessons for the party at large.
“When you look at what motivates people in uniform to serve, it is the same feelings that motivate us to serve again now,” said Cait Conley, a West Point graduate who served 16 years as an Army officer and is running in New York. “That is a fight for this country we love more than anything.”
Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/17/democratic-veterans-trying-repeat-2018/