Arizona Representative Ruben Gallego's speech at the Democratic National Convention focused on his military past and policies for other veterans. He even brought out a crowd of other Democratic lawmakers who served in the U.S. military.
The military vote is especially consequential here in Arizona where 10.10% of the adult population identifies themselves as veterans according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Nationally, only 6.60% of Americans call themselves veterans.
Gallego's speech— and the crowd that came out with him— stuck with Tucson voter and former Marine Caleb Hayter.
“It was really inspirational. It was heart warming, and it was cool, to put it simply,” he said.
Hayter served in the Marine Corps. During his tenure, he was deployed to Afghanistan, which he says changed his relationship with his country.
Though while in the military, he says he was more focused on day-to-day operations
“To a certain extent in the military, it doesn’t really matter. You follow orders. It doesn’t matter who’s the commander in chief is… it doesn’t matter what party holds congress. You just have to do your job.”
He recognized that the veteran vote isn't a monolith, but he says that being deployed gives them a first-hand look at how foreign policy affects lives abroad and how domestic policy could affect Americans here.
“I had been in a failed state in Afghanistan," he said. "And I didn’t want to see my country turn into that.”
Though he understands voters other concerns, he says this speech helped show the bigger issues at play.
“We’re getting to the place as a nation where we’re starting to question the system and structure of our government itself," he said. "If that falls apart, then we will fall apart as a nation and we won’t be able to take care of those daily concerns like the economy or job or grocery bills."
