Political leanings: Democratic

2024 total spending: $30 million by its hybrid PAC

VoteVets is a political group that supports veterans, and promotes Democratic policies and candidates. It operates two political committees: the VoteVets PAC and the VoteVets Action Fund.

VoteVets, the PAC, is a Carey committee, a hybrid organization that functions as both a PAC and a super PAC. Like a traditional PAC, the committee can give money directly to a campaign. However, like a super PAC, it can also raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for independent expenditures, which are funds spent on advertisements or other communications in order to elect or defeat specific candidates. For years, the PAC’s goal has been to elect veterans to office.

VoteVets Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, a “social welfare organization” that must spend less than 50% of its funds for political purposes. It does not need to disclose its donors, but it must report its independent expenditures to the Federal Election Commission.

The co-founder of VoteVets is Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran. VoteVet’s treasurer is Rick Hegdahl, who also is its national veteran organizer. 

As of Aug. 31, the VoteVets PAC reported raising about $26 million for the 2026 election cycle while spending about $31 million, according to its latest FEC disclosure. Major donors include Deborah Simon, daughter of the late property developer Melvin Simon; Lisa Mennet, a child psychologist and founder of the philanthropic Perigee Fund; and the Democrat-aligned super PACs AB PAC and Project 218. 

“Overall, VoteVets plans this year to spend $60 million on 331 Democratic candidates nationwide — 20 House and Senate candidates and 311 down-ballot races — the most since it was founded,” the New York Times reported in late September. “That makes it one of the most substantial single-issue advocacy groups operating in the midterm cycle, and one of the main groups spending the most to support Democratic candidates.”

Through the end of August, the VoteVets PAC had spent more than $18.3 million on independent expenditures supporting candidates. About half of that was spent backing Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek in the Iowa Senate race against Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson. Turek, who won Paralympic medals for the U.S. in wheelchair basketball, was born with spina bifida due to his father being exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. He’s one of the VoteVets-backed candidates who aren’t veterans but whose lives have been influenced by a family member’s military service. 

The PAC also spent more than $1 million helping Luke Bronin defeat Rep. John B. Larson in the Democratic primary for Larson’s seat in Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District. “We have no issue with Larson,” Soltz told the Times. “It’s about the fact that we can get a veteran into Congress for the next 30 years, to be the chairman of the House Veterans Committee or Foreign Affairs. That’s our interest.”

During the 2024 election cycle, VoteVets raised over $31 million and spent roughly $30 million, with more than $13.6 million going to independent expenditures, including about $2.9 million to support Ruben Gallego, a former Marine and an Iraq War veteran, who won the Senate race in Arizona.

FactCheck.org Undergraduate Fellow Justine Weng contributed to this article. 

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.