Endorsements
2026 Candidates
The Steady State endorses candidates for Congress, Governor, and other national-security-relevant offices who show a consistent commitment to the rule of law regardless of party, support nonpartisan oversight of the Executive Branch, and understand the security challenges facing the country. Endorsed candidates must also uphold democratic norms — the peaceful transfer of power, rejection of political violence, and defense of civil liberties including a free press and the right to dissent. The Steady State does not endorse candidates who have worked to subvert democratic institutions, discredited the security community without evidence, or promoted disinformation or extremism.
Eugene Vindman (VA-07)
Eugene Vindman is running for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. Raised in Brooklyn, he enrolled in ROTC at Cornell and was commissioned as an Army infantry officer, going on to a 25-year military career as a paratrooper, infantry officer, and JAG Corps attorney, including service as a battlefield advisor on the law of war to the U.S. Forces-Iraq and General Lloyd Austin. He later joined the National Security Council as a Legal Advisor and became its Senior Ethics Official in the White House. In 2019, after his twin brother Alexander reported President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president up the chain of command, Eugene helped report it as well.
Elaine Luria (VA-02)
Elaine Luria is running for Congress in Virginia’s Second District. She joined the Navy at 17 and spent 20 years as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer who served on destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers in the Middle East and Western Pacific. She retired as a Commander in 2017 after commanding a 400-sailor unit that supported the U.S. Marine Corps. She represented Virginia’s Second District in Congress from 2018 to 2023, where she helped pass the PACT Act, secured three cost-of-living increases for veterans, and delivered historic investments in shipbuilding for Hampton Roads.