CIVPAC has endorsed Aly Richards in Vermont’s August 11 Democratic primary for governor.
Richards is the more practical and responsible choice over economist Amanda Janoo. Although CIVPAC disagrees with Richards on the appropriate size and role of state government, she has demonstrated an ability to build coalitions, turn policy goals into workable legislation and confront the costs and practical limitations of government programs.
The contrast is particularly clear on health care. Both candidates support government-guaranteed universal primary care, but Janoo proposes a substantially more expensive state-funded system supported by large income-tax surcharges. Richards has rejected that approach as economically and politically unrealistic and has emphasized preserving federal and insurance funding rather than shifting the full cost to Vermont taxpayers.
Richards also offers a more practical approach to Vermont’s housing shortage, workforce problems and stagnant population. Her emphasis on increasing housing construction, improving administration and adopting policies that can actually pass the legislature makes her the stronger Democratic nominee.
This endorsement applies only to the Democratic primary. CIVPAC will evaluate the general election separately after voters choose a nominee to face Republican Governor Phil Scott.
CIVPAC has endorsed Maurice Mercer in the August 11 Democratic primary for Alabama’s 6th Congressional District.
Mercer is a former Pelham City Council president with experience in business, small-business ownership and local government. His platform combines support for competitive markets and reduced unnecessary regulation with secure borders, humane immigration reform, accountable law enforcement and respect for religious freedom.
He is an unusually strong fit for CIVPAC. Rather than treating corporations, profits or law-enforcement officers as presumptive enemies, Mercer emphasizes competition, opportunity, constitutional rights and practical cooperation among government, business, workers and local communities.
Alabama’s 6th District is heavily Republican, and Mercer would face a difficult general election. That is not a reason to ignore his candidacy. Political organizations should help elevate thoughtful centrists even when their path to victory is narrow. Candidates such as Mercer can broaden their parties, improve political debate and offer voters a meaningful alternative to both right-wing and left-wing politics.
Minnesota voters face two important Democratic primaries on August 11. CIVPAC has endorsed Representative Angie Craig for the open United States Senate seat and state Senator Matt Klein in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District.
Angie Craig offers the strongest combination of legislative experience, political pragmatism and general-election appeal in the Senate field. She has repeatedly won a competitive congressional district and understands that Democrats must speak to rural, suburban and independent voters as well as the party’s most committed activists.
Our endorsement of Matt Klein is more comparative. We disagree with several of his economic and health-care positions, but his experience as a physician and state senator makes him the best available choice to succeed Craig in a politically competitive district. His principal opponents are substantially farther from CIVPAC on health care, immigration enforcement, economic policy and military assistance to Israel. His potential Republican opponent, Eric Pratt, is unopposed in the primary. We will revisit the race after the Democratic primary is over.
These endorsements do not imply complete agreement with either candidate. They reflect CIVPAC’s continuing effort to identify the most pragmatic and responsible choices available to primary voters.
Connecticut voters will choose their party nominees on August 11. After reviewing the state’s contested races, CIVPAC has made two endorsements: Governor Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for governor and Chris Shea in the Republican primary for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District.
The two endorsements arise from very different circumstances. Lamont is a center-left incumbent whose fiscal record makes him preferable to a progressive challenger. Shea is a conservative Republican whom we endorse as the clearly more qualified and responsible choice in his primary. We will evaluate our endorsements for the November general election after the primaries are over.
Ned Lamont for Governor
CIVPAC endorses Governor Ned Lamont over state Representative Josh Elliott in the Democratic primary.
Lamont has demonstrated that a center-left administration can pursue social goals without abandoning fiscal discipline. Connecticut has balanced its budgets, directed more than $11 billion in surpluses toward reducing pension debt, preserved middle-class tax reductions and continued funding paid family leave and early-childhood education.
We have reservations. State spending and public-employee compensation deserve continued scrutiny. Connecticut faces high housing, tax and electricity costs, and the deterioration of important practices within the Department of Children and Families raises legitimate questions about administrative accountability. Lamont also needs to do more to overcome local restrictions that prevent the construction of additional housing.
But Elliott offers a substantially more left-wing alternative. He favors higher taxes on wealthy residents, weaker fiscal guardrails, movement toward single-payer health coverage and a more expansive role for state government. Lamont’s approach is imperfect, but it is more fiscally realistic and sustainable.
Chris Shea in Connecticut’s 5th District
CIVPAC endorses Chris Shea in the Republican primary for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District.
Shea served for more than three decades in the Navy, including as a Navy SEAL and special-forces medic. He later returned to work as a firefighter and paramedic and founded a nonprofit helping veterans enter first-responder careers. His record demonstrates service, responsibility and experience with national-security institutions.
This is a highly qualified endorsement. Shea is a conservative Trump supporter, not a centrist. His platform lacks sufficient detail on Ukraine, NATO, deficits, entitlement programs, health care and abortion. His use of culture-war rhetoric also substitutes partisan signaling for serious policy discussion.
His opponent, Jonathan De Barros, is nevertheless unacceptable. Our objection is not that De Barros should be permanently excluded from public life because of an overturned murder conviction, a later manslaughter plea and a pardon. Redemption should be possible. Our objection concerns his current judgment, including inflammatory rhetoric, calls to arrest public officials for treason over immigration disputes and efforts to silence political critics through litigation.
Shea is plainly the more qualified and responsible Republican candidate.
This endorsement applies only to the Republican primary. Democratic Representative Jahana Hayes remains under review for a possible CIVPAC endorsement in the general election. We will evaluate the November contest after Republican voters select their nominee.
Wisconsin voters will choose their party nominees on August 11. CIVPAC has endorsed six candidates: one for governor and five for the U.S. House.
The endorsements cross party lines and do not reflect agreement with every position taken by every candidate. They reflect our judgment about the choices available in each primary. We favor candidates who take governing seriously, respect constitutional institutions, recognize economic and political tradeoffs, and offer a practical alternative to the ideological extremes of either party.
Crowley has managed Wisconsin’s largest county, negotiated a difficult fiscal compromise with Republican legislators and demonstrated that he can accept an imperfect agreement when it produces meaningful results. The unusual sequence of withdrawals and reentries in this primary helps explain his long-shot position; it does not make him less qualified. In a closely divided state, Crowley offers a more realistic and governable alternative to democratic socialism.
Mitchell Berman in Wisconsin’s 1st District
CIVPAC endorses Mitchell Berman in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.
Berman is an emergency-room nurse who previously cared for veterans at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center. His firsthand experience gives him useful insight into health-care access, cost and administration. His platform still needs greater detail on fiscal policy, immigration and foreign affairs, but he offers Democrats the strongest combination of relevant experience, democratic accountability and campaign capacity in the field.
Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd District
CIVPAC endorses Rebecca Cooke in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin’s highly competitive 3rd District.
Cooke combines rural roots, small-business experience, political realism and a demonstrated ability to appeal beyond the Democratic base. We do not regard “center-left” as a synonym for centrist or as automatic praise. But center-left is better than far-left, especially when Democratic voters must consider which nominee can actually win a competitive general election.
Niina Threlfall-Baum in Wisconsin’s 7th District
CIVPAC endorses Niina Threlfall-Baum in the Republican primary for the open 7th District seat.
Baum is the clearest moderate and problem-solving Republican in a field that otherwise tilts toward Trump-aligned or ideological candidates. We have reservations about her proposed moratorium on major artificial-intelligence data centers and would like clearer positions on NATO and Ukraine. Even so, her emphasis on fiscal responsibility, local control and practical representation makes her the strongest Republican choice.
Fred Clark in Wisconsin’s 7th District
CIVPAC endorses Fred Clark in the Democratic primary for the same open seat.
Clark is a forester, conservationist, small-business owner and former state legislator with deep knowledge of rural Wisconsin. His approach to immigration combines border enforcement with due process, lawful immigration and realistic workforce needs. He is a center-left Democrat, not a centrist, but his rural credibility, legislative experience and respect for constitutional limits distinguish him from the field.
Endorsing candidates in both party primaries does not predetermine our general-election position. We will evaluate the November choice after voters select the nominees.
Rick Crosson in Wisconsin’s 8th District
CIVPAC endorses Rick Crosson in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin’s 8th District.
Crosson brings two decades of Army service, extensive business and logistics experience, and service on the Green Bay school board. His immigration position is both enforceable and humane, and his military experience gives him a valuable perspective on national security and executive accountability. His opponents offer either a sweeping and risky reconstruction of the federal tax system or democratic-socialist policies well outside CIVPAC’s range.
These endorsements are choices among real candidates, not searches for perfect agreement. Readers can review all of CIVPAC’s 2026 candidate endorsements and races under consideration, follow the links above for the full reasoning, and tell us where they believe we have judged wisely—or gone wrong.
CIVPAC has endorsed Charlie Hatcher in the Republican primary and Chaz Molder in the Democratic primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
Endorsing candidates in both parties may seem unusual, but it reflects the purpose of an independent centrist organization. We do not begin by choosing a party and then searching for reasons to support its nominee. We evaluate the candidates actually running and ask which candidate in each primary offers voters the strongest combination of competence, responsible government and appeal beyond the party’s most committed base.
In the Republican primary, that candidate is Charlie Hatcher.
Hatcher is a farmer, veterinarian, business owner and former Tennessee commissioner of agriculture. He offers Republican voters a more serious and accomplished alternative to incumbent Representative Andy Ogles, whose congressional career has been characterized too often by ideological performance, inflammatory rhetoric and the pursuit of national attention.
Hatcher would also be the more appealing Republican candidate in the general election. His executive experience, agricultural background and emphasis on competent government give him a better chance of reaching voters who may share conservative instincts but are weary of political theater.
In the Democratic primary, CIVPAC endorses Chaz Molder.
Molder has twice been elected mayor of Columbia in heavily Republican Maury County. His record includes balanced budgets, investments in public safety and infrastructure, and no increase in the city’s property-tax rate. Whatever disagreements CIVPAC may have with individual elements of his platform, he has demonstrated an ability to govern and to earn support beyond the Democratic base.
That experience distinguishes him from the rest of the Democratic field. Democrats hoping to compete in Tennessee’s 5th District need more than a candidate who can mobilize reliable Democratic voters. They need someone capable of persuading independents and at least some Republicans. Molder has already shown that he can do that.
These endorsements are limited to the party primaries. CIVPAC will evaluate the general-election nominees after the primaries are complete.
For now, our message to voters in both parties is straightforward.
Republicans who want a more responsible representative and a stronger general-election nominee should choose Charlie Hatcher.
Democrats who want an experienced candidate with the best chance of building a broader coalition should choose Chaz Molder.
A healthier political system requires both parties to nominate candidates capable of governing—and capable of speaking to people who do not already agree with them.
CIVPAC has endorsed two Democratic congressional candidates in Michigan: Bridget Brink in the 7th Congressional District and Callie Barr in the 1st Congressional District.
The districts are different, and neither candidate should be treated as a generic national Democrat. Both bring experience particularly relevant to the people they seek to represent.
Bridget Brink — Michigan’s 7th District
Bridget Brink is a career diplomat and former United States ambassador to Ukraine. She served under presidents of both parties and represented the United States in Kyiv during Russia’s invasion. She resigned from government after concluding that the Trump administration was placing pressure on Ukraine while accommodating Russia.
Brink brings seriousness, integrity and extensive national-security experience to a competitive central Michigan district. At a time when American alliances and democratic values are under pressure, Congress needs members who understand both the human consequences of aggression and the strategic importance of resisting it.
Her career also demonstrates that public service need not begin with partisan ambition. She spent decades representing the United States before seeking elective office.
Callie Barr is a military spouse, veteran advocate, teacher and attorney seeking to represent northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Her campaign emphasizes affordability, health care, housing, energy costs and the practical needs of families who often feel overlooked by Washington.
Barr’s understanding of military families is particularly relevant in a region with a strong tradition of service. She also offers Democrats an opportunity to compete in a difficult district with a candidate whose biography and priorities are grounded in the community rather than in national ideological politics.
An endorsement is not merely a prediction about who is most likely to win. Sometimes it is also a statement that a serious candidate is making the right kind of argument in a place where that argument needs to be heard.
Brink and Barr represent two important forms of public service: international leadership in defense of American interests and practical advocacy for families at home. CIVPAC is pleased to endorse both.
Kansas has repeatedly demonstrated that a Republican-leaning state can elect pragmatic leaders who appeal beyond a narrow partisan base.
CIVPAC has endorsed three Kansas candidates in 2026: Ethan Corson for governor, Adam Hamilton for the United States Senate and Representative Sharice Davids for reelection to Congress.
Ethan Corson for Governor
State Senator Ethan Corson offers Kansas voters an opportunity to continue the practical, results-oriented style of leadership that has allowed Democrats to compete successfully for the governorship.
Corson emphasizes public education, economic opportunity, individual rights and making it possible for younger Kansans to build their lives in the state. His campaign presents a mainstream alternative to ideological government from either the right or the left.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab deserves credit for defending the integrity of Kansas elections, rejecting unsupported fraud claims and resisting demands for sensitive voter information. However, his opposition to even limited abortion rights and enthusiastic support for the expanded federal SAVE voter-screening system leave too much distance between his positions and CIVPAC’s for us to offer an endorsement.
Adam Hamilton for the U.S. Senate
Adam Hamilton is an unusual political candidate. As the founding pastor of a large United Methodist congregation, he has spent decades speaking to people with different political, religious and cultural perspectives.
Hamilton considered running as an independent before entering the Democratic primary and describes himself as an independent-minded Democrat. His candidacy offers the party an opportunity to nominate someone capable of reaching voters who would not ordinarily consider supporting a Democrat.
CIVPAC does not expect Hamilton to fit neatly into every conventional Democratic position. That is part of his potential value in a state such as Kansas.
Representative Sharice Davids has demonstrated that a pragmatic Democrat can win and govern effectively in the Kansas suburbs. She is seeking reelection in the 3rd Congressional District.
Davids has already shown that she can assemble a durable coalition without adopting the language or priorities of the ideological left. She remains one of the most important examples of the Democratic Party’s ability to compete in places it once routinely lost.
These endorsements reflect a common idea: candidates should fit the people and political culture they seek to represent. Kansas Democrats will not succeed by importing the politics of the most progressive parts of the country. They can succeed by offering capable, practical and independent-minded leadership rooted in Kansas itself.
CIVPAC has endorsed former Representative Elaine Luria in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
Luria brings an unusual combination of military experience, legislative experience and demonstrated commitment to constitutional government. Before entering Congress, she served for 20 years as a Navy officer. In the House, she developed a reputation for seriousness on national security and later served on the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. She is now seeking to reclaim the district she represented from 2019 through 2022.
CIVPAC does not expect to agree with Luria on every issue. We would, of course, prefer a true centrist, but she represents the kind of center-left leadership the country needs: pragmatic, experienced, internationally engaged and willing to place constitutional responsibility ahead of immediate political convenience.
Virginia’s 2nd District includes a large military and veteran population and deserves a representative who understands both national defense and the obligations that accompany public power. Elaine Luria has demonstrated that understanding.
CIVPAC’s endorsements are not offered as kingmaking exercises. We recognize that we do not have that kind of influence. They are public markers: statements about the kind of politics we believe deserves support and the kind of politics we believe should be resisted.
CIVPAC has endorsed three Democratic members of Congress in Washington state: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Adam Smith and Marilyn Strickland.
They represent different districts and different styles of leadership, but all three demonstrate that Democratic politics need not be dominated by its most ideological voices.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — Washington’s 3rd District
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez represents a politically difficult district in southwest Washington. A small-business owner with roots in the skilled trades, she has developed a reputation for independence, practical problem-solving and a willingness to depart from her party when she believes her district requires it. She won a Republican-leaning district in 2022 and expanded her margin in 2024.
CIVPAC does not endorse every departure from party leadership merely because it is independent. We endorse Gluesenkamp Perez because her independence generally reflects the interests of the people she represents.
Adam Smith is an experienced legislator and one of the Democratic Party’s most knowledgeable voices on national security. He has represented Washington in Congress since 1997 and currently serves as the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
Smith combines a broadly center-left domestic outlook with a realistic understanding of alliances, military power and America’s international responsibilities. At a time when parts of both parties are tempted by isolationism or ideological simplification, that experience matters.
Marilyn Strickland brings executive experience, practical judgment and close attention to the military families, veterans, workers and businesses of Washington’s South Sound. She is seeking a fourth term in Congress.
Strickland is a pragmatic Democrat who understands that public programs must deliver visible results. Her attention to infrastructure, economic opportunity and the quality of life of servicemembers and their families makes her a strong fit for her district.
These three endorsements do not suggest that the candidates are identical or that CIVPAC approves every vote they cast. They reflect our belief that the Democratic Party and the country need experienced national-security voices, pragmatic representatives of competitive districts and legislators focused on making government work.
