Liberal veterans PAC plans to spend $45m to back Biden

WASHINGTON — VoteVets, the liberal political action committee known for supporting veterans running for office, will spend $45 million to back President Biden and Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, Jon Soltz, the group’s cofounder and chair, said.

VoteVets is the latest liberal organization to announce its 2024 plans to back Biden and other Democratic candidates. Future Forward, the main Democratic super PAC supporting Biden’s bid, has a $250 million ad blitz planned. Last month liberal activist group MoveOn revealed its $32 million program.

The centerpiece of the VoteVets effort is a $15 million project aimed at veterans and activeduty military families in the presidential battleground states.

The man Biden beat in 2020 and is likely to face in a rematch this fall, former president Trump, slipped among veterans during his reelection campaign. In 2020, Trump performed a net 14 points worse among veterans and military families than he did in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, according to a Pew Research study released in 2021. Trump still carried veterans, but his erosion of support followed evidence that he had been disrespectful to some military officials and families.

“While all these other groups focus on base turnout, somebody has to be able to focus on cutting losses with some of these core groups,” Soltz said in an interview. “Elections aren’t just won by running up the score, it’s by cutting losses, and Biden’s success largely came by cutting losses in this community.”

VoteVets, which Soltz founded in 2006 in opposition to the Iraq War, has grown into one of the Democratic Party’s leading benefactors.