A member of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Class of 1980, the first to include women, Fitzpatrick began researching candidates and poring over issues. As political candidates, female veterans also had a breakout performance in the midterms, sometimes campaigning as a foil to Trump: empathetic and competent on issues such as health care while also trustworthy on military and defense, typically a GOP strength. Both current and former female service members were more likely to vote in the 2018 midterm elections for Democrats than Republicans, 60% to 36%, according to the data from VoteCast. A record number of female veterans — four — were elected to the House, all Democrats. All told, 55% of voters who had served in the military backed Republican candidates in the elections, compared to 42% who supported Democrats, according to VoteCast data.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 29, 2018 22:52 UTC