In Fayetteville, the fight for the military vote is on full display 

Editor’s note: Second of two parts. Part one focused on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign visit to Fayetteville last Thursday, in light of President Joe Biden’s announcement Sunday he would withdraw from the race. Part two focuses on Harris’ visit and the place of Fayetteville and Cumberland County play in presidential politics.

Visitors driving through Fayetteville quickly grasp the military’s influence on the city, even if they’re not aware of Fort Liberty. Surplus and supply stores are abundant, businesses proudly proclaim when they’re “veteran-owned,” and in any stop you’re likely to see someone outfitted in camouflage. 

It’s logical: The presence of Fort Liberty, the nation’s largest military installation, means that about 12% of Fayetteville’s population are veterans; 5% of residents are active-duty.

Fittingly, a thread woven through the remarks given at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Fayetteville last week was the importance of support for military families and veterans. Six of the seven speakers Thursday touched on the issue, highlighting the Biden administration’s support for veterans in particular with recent legislation. 

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper described North Carolina as the “most military and veteran friendly state in the country” on Thursday; state Sen. Val Applewhite of Fayetteville, said the Biden-Harris administration had “taken historic action to support our robust veteran community.” 

Kelly Artist, a military spouse who said her family is stationed at Fort Liberty, introduced Harris. She said she valued Biden’s personal connection to the struggles of military families, through his son Beau Biden — an Iraq war veteran who died from cancer at 46 after being exposed to burn pits.

Harris — who appears to be the front-runner for the Democratic ticket following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race on Sunday — dedicated a portion of her remarks to support for the military. 

“I want to also thank the extraordinary leaders who are our service members and their families who are here with us this afternoon — thank you all,” Harris told the Fayetteville audience. “One of my greatest honors as vice president is to meet with our service members around the world.”

Support for the military has remained a generally bipartisan issue, with the majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle viewing the institution positively, according to the Pew Research Center. Democrats have signaled attempts to tap into the military vote, and North Carolina’s position as the 4th most populous state for veterans in the country and a swing state may be part of that effort. 

Thomas Mills, who spent 25 years as a political and public affairs consultant before founding Politics NC, a North Carolina news and politics blog, suggested that the military vote has been seen as more flexible in recent years. 

“To some degree, I believe that Democrats believe that the military, the veterans community, is probably up for grabs,” Mills told CityView. “They traditionally lean more Republican, but with some of the [insulting] comments that Trump’s made about the military in recent years, having people show up in areas that have a lot of veterans, a lot of military families, is probably good politics, too.”

Applewhite, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, told CityView on Monday she sees military voters as a “key voting bloc” going into the election for both parties. 

“Our veterans and Gold Star families are a key voting bloc, especially to North Carolina, home of Fort Liberty and various military installations,” Applewhite said. “The sacrifices that veterans and their families have given — it should be a priority regardless of political party.”

Scott Peoples, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, was among the non-politician speakers at Harris’ Fayetteville rally. A self-described “Republican-turned-Democrat,” Peoples credited his party affiliation switch to Biden’s and Harris’ advocacy for veterans programs, referencing the passage of PACT Act in August 2022, a historic expansion of VA benefits. Peoples also referenced Trump’s negative comments about veterans, including when the former president in 2018 reportedly called them “suckers and losers” — a comment confirmed by Trump’s former chief of staff. 

“To borrow a line from Ronald Reagan: I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me,” Peoples said. “My values remain the same. America is a great country and a beacon for democracy and freedom all over the world. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that. But Trump and MAGA Republicans don’t share those values.”

Peoples also raised concerns about Project 2025, which includes cost-cutting measures that could cut benefits and health care access for veterans. Trump has distanced himself from the plan, describing it at the Republican National Convention as “seriously extreme” and conceived by people on the “severe right,” though he has strong ties to the plan’s creators.

Military vote

While the military vote tends to be more conservative, the bloc is not uniform, with about 6 in 10 military veterans saying they voted for Trump in 2020, AP reported. The popularity of the Democratic and Republican Parties among active-duty personnel has also been divided, with military bases moving away from Republicans in 2020, according to The Economist. 

Mac McCorkle, a professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and former Democratic consultant, said the military vote has “traditionally been Republican-oriented,” and that isn’t necessarily going to change for this election. 

“Every vote is key when there’s a tight election, but it’s not considered a swing vote or something where there’s a lot of contesting for the vote because for Trump, it was Republican,” McCorkle told CityView. “And if there’s any fall off in the support for Trump, that would be bad for the Republicans.”

Asked if disparaging comments supposedly made by Trump could sway the military vote, McCorkle said it’s a possibility, but only if the Democrats are able to “really push it.” For example, a campaign ad that used Trump’s former chief of staff confirmation of the former president’s “suckers and losers” comment could be effective, McCorkle said. 

Though the Biden-Harris administration has been lauded for supporting legislation that has provided better benefits to veterans, it has also faced criticism for its foreign policy decisions, notably the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, during which 13 U.S. soldiers died in a terrorist attack. Republicans criticized the move last week during the Republican National Convention, 

Applewhite criticized the RNC’s decision to spotlight the families of the soldiers who were killed in the attack during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing it as an attempt to use the tragedy to win “political points.”

“Our stories need to be told, but I’m not sure that bringing these families in their pain on display at a convention was the appropriate thing to do,” Applewhite said. 

Why Fayetteville?

Nigel Bistrow, a Democrat running for the U.S. House 9th Congressional District whose platform includes support for military benefits for service members and veterans, said he believes Harris chose to come to Fayetteville because North Carolina is a battleground state and Fayetteville has a “big military background.”

“So since North Carolina is under the spotlight because it’s a battleground state, they’re going to come as many times as needed to make sure that people understand what’s at stake,” Bistrow said.

Fayetteville was a surprisingly popular destination in the days leading up to the 2020 election as well; Harris visited two days before the 2020 presidential election, while Trump held a rally the night before the election. In Fayetteville, both presidential campaigns have opened offices this year, signaling North Carolina’s importance in the presidential election, CityView previously reported. 

“The path to the White House, to the governor’s mansion and beyond runs right here through Fayetteville,” Gabriella Johns, the organizing manager for the North Carolina Democratic Party, said at Thursday’s rally.

Though Cumberland County has historically voted blue in presidential elections, supporting the Democratic nominee in every election since 2004, the population is also not a uniform bloc: Democrat voters in the county make up approximately 40% of total registered voters, unaffiliated voters comprise around 35%, Republicans account for about 23%, and the remaining 1% consists of other affiliations, with a total voter registration of 217,058. 

A veteran’s take

Justin Herbe, a U.S. Army veteran who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, is still not sure who he’ll vote for in November — and as a Libertarian, he’s not exactly excited about having to choose between a Democrat and Republican. 

When he first started serving in 2004, Herbe said talk of personal politics was something soldiers generally kept to themselves, but that started to change around the time when President Barack Obama took office. People started “talking more about their political views,” Herbe said.

“Your political opinions really didn’t matter, because we were united in the war on terror,” Herbe told CityView. “And as that war got extended over and over again into the 2010s, even the military became more divided.”

Though Herbe said it “might have been positive” that service members have been more able to express their opinions openly in recent years, he also warned against the politicization of the military, which has strict policies regarding displays of partisanship among active-duty service members.

“The military should have never been political in the first place,” Herbe said. 

The North Carolina voter registration deadline is Oct. 1. In-person early voting begins Oct. 29. Election Day is Nov. 5. 

Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. To keep CityView Today going and to grow our impact even more, we’re asking our committed readers to consider becoming a member. Click here to join.