The New Jersey and Virginia Governor’s races were won by candidates who have served this Nation outside politics. A recent Gallup survey found that 55 percent of Americans “are much more or somewhat more likely to vote for a candidate with military experience.” https://www.military.com/daily-news/headlines/2025/11/05/veterans-score-big-and-send-message-ballot-box.html. In that same survey 83 percent of respondents believed that veterans possess strong leadership skills, and 78 percent believed that veterans put the country’s interests ahead of politics.

Why? Because unlike our current politics, military service is a synonym for sacrifice.

One example of that sacrifice is Lt. Colonel Thomas “Bob” Vaucher – who spent much of his life in Bridgewater, NJ.  Bob risked his life 116 times when flying combat missions in WW II, including the longest mission of that war. American pilots were excused after flying 25 missions.  Bob exceeded that requirement by almost five-fold.

Another example is a child who grew up in poverty. Acting out at home and at school, he was sent to a military school his widowed mother could not afford. Which he ran away from twice, enlisting – the second time - under an assumed name in the Canadian Army at the tender age of 14. By age 16, he had fought through one of Europe’s coldest winters in the 20^th century, was wounded in the chest by German shrapnel, and saved by an unknown orderly. When WWII ended, he had still not finished middle school. That child’s name was Charles Leven, and he was my father.

Bob Vaucher fought his war at 30,000 feet. My father rarely spoke about what he did or saw on the ground, except to say that his wartime experience consisted of long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror.

Different experiences lived by different men under different circumstances, yet united – along with all veterans - by one overarching truth. They served something bigger than themselves. Those who stood next to them. Their unit. And a cause.

So understood, how does CD 7 stack up?

Like me, Tom Kean, Jr. has not served in the military. But that is where our shared experience ends. Because he also has apparently never had a real job. Riding his family’s coat tails, Kean, Jr. was a congressional aide before landing at the Environmental Protection Agency.  He was then  appointed to the NJ General Assembly and appointed to the NJ Senate. Interspersed among these gimmes were a few electoral wins and, in Congress, virtually no accomplishments. Making Kean, Jr. most notable for essentially disappearing. In the face of a renamed “Gulf of America,”  Venezuela takeover, threatened invasion of Greenland,  absorption of Canada, dismemberment of NATO, pardon of George Santos, and conversion of our economy into a Trump mood meter, the only thing that Kean, Jr. seems committed to is being noncommittal.

What of the Democratic field? Beth Adubato is a criminal justice professor who - oddly, given her chosen academic field – has no law enforcement background and is not a lawyer. Which makes it difficult to see what practical experience she is sharing with her students.

Michael Roth is a former Small Business Administration head in the Biden administration. In 2024, Kean, Jr. won CD-7 on the coattails of Trump’s win over Biden’s Vice President. Enough said.

Sara Sooy lives and breathes politics. She lauds having begun her political career at age 22 and seems to have done little (if anything) outside of that sphere since. Now in her early to mid-thirties, Ms. Sooy is going to fix the ills of the real-world in which we all live but she barely has.

Megan O’Rourke – a former federal employee – is all about climate change. Which is important. She also worked for the current Vice Chair of the Progressive Caucus. Sort of like Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani. Except that CD 7 is a purple district. Not dark green. And certainly not blue. We have seen this movie before. Sue Altman ran as a progressive in 2024. Altman lost.

Brian Varela, according to his website, “built a successful marketing agency,” helped “NJ Families access early education,“ is “a fighter for democracy, economic fairness, and real change” and “has led grassroots efforts across New Jersey, organizing communities, founding the Morris Dems Hispanic Caucus, and advocating for democracy reforms like Ranked Choice Voting to give power back to the people.” I don’t doubt that Mr. Valera is “a fighter for democracy.”  So am I. So, in the abstract, is everybody. It would be nice, though, to see what grassroots efforts he has actually “led,” what committees he has actually “organiz[ed],” and with what results.

Tina Shah is a physician committed to healthcare. Which matters. But healthcare is also her expertise – not leadership. And the life she has lived – as per her website – does not suggest otherwise.

By contrast, Rebecca Bennett served for 15 years as a helicopter and test pilot for the US Navy. For much of her adult life she served her unit, her branch of the military and her nation. She served us.

The difference this makes was revealed in a recent candidate forum. For Tina Shah, “healthcare is the defining issue: ‘America is in critical condition, and Tom Kean Jr. is not cutting it.’” For Rebecca Bennett, this election is “about values and the future of this nation.” Seven Democratic Candidates for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District Tackle the Issues at Forum | Somerville, NJ News TAPinto | TAPinto

Look – as a 65-year-old man, I understand healthcare better than I ever wanted to. And several Democratic primary contenders in CD 7 might beat Kean, Jr. But we now face a staggering reality; living on the edge of razorblade juxtaposed between American exceptionalism and institutionalized thuggery. It is a place where policy matters, but courage matters more.

Right now, the margins in Congress are so thin that flipping even one seat could change the trajectory of this country and (incredibly) by extension,  the world. If we have learned anything over the past year, it is that this opportunity may not come our way again. To seize it, we can no longer assess candidates politely, prefacing their prospects with “perhaps,” or “could” or “maybe.” Nor can we be swayed by their ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference. We need to put the best people on the field that we can. People who can win and, when they do, can lead.

The person most likely to do so is Rebecca Bennett. She can speak effectively to Democrats, Independents, and thoughtful Republicans as a centrist in a purple district. And having lived a life (before politics) of service and personal courage, she can speak to all of us as Americans.

Do the math.