03/07/2026
Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, one of the senior military leaders fired without cause by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last summer, is running for the Congressional seat of Republican Nancy Mace in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District -- turning her dismissal from the Pentagon into a fight to flip a Republican House seat.
"After decades of service to our country, a career that started as a Navy pilot and finished as a three-star admiral, I was removed from my position without cause," Lacore declared in her campaign announcement. "I still have more to give, more to fight for, more work to do -- and I am not done serving."
As she told Reserve & National Guard Magazine last week, “I spent 35 years defending the Constitution and upholding the rights and freedoms that are in it. I’m concerned that is at risk right now.”
Lacore is a trailblazer in every sense: a Navy veteran who began her career as a helicopter pilot and rose to become a three-star admiral and the 16th Chief of the Navy Reserve, where she led more than 60,000 sailors. A native of Albany, New York, she followed in her father's footsteps by accepting an ROTC scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, earning her naval aviator wings in 1993.
Over three and a half decades, she accumulated approximately 1,300 flight hours in military aircraft, deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, commanded Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, and served as the 93rd Commandant of Naval District Washington before ascending to lead the Navy Reserve. Her awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, four Meritorious Service Medals, and four Navy Commendation Medals.
Her firing on August 22, 2025 -- exactly one year after taking command of the Navy Reserve -- came alongside Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, who commanded the Navy SEALs. The Defense Department offered no explanation for her dismissal beyond the catchall "loss of confidence," the same vague justification Hegseth has used to fire dozens of America's most senior military leaders.
Ironically, this unprecedented purge has been conducted by the least qualified Defense Secretary in modern history -- a former Fox News TV host with no senior military command experience, no experience managing large organizations, and no previous government service at any level.
This systematic dismantling of military leadership has alarmed national security experts across the political spectrum. Five former defense secretaries -- including retired Gen. Jim Mattis, Trump's own first defense secretary -- condemned the firings as "reckless" in a joint letter to Congress, asking for "immediate hearings to assess the national security implications" of the dismissals.
Former National Security Council member Kori Schake, a George W. Bush adviser, said the Trump administration is "squandering an enormous amount of talent." Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a Marine officer who served in Iraq and now sits on the House Armed Services Committee, was blunter: "That's a recipe not just for a politicized military, but an authoritarian military. That's the way militaries work in Russia and China and North Korea."
In Lacore's case, her extensive military record and broader community service show the high caliber of leader that Hegseth has dismissed without cause. After returning from Afghanistan in 2012, she visited the Women in Military Service for America Memorial for the first time and found herself paging through a book devoted to the stories of women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and realized that even after 24 years in the Navy and her own deployment to a war zone, she had no idea how many women had been killed.
"As a woman who had just served in Afghanistan, I really had no idea who had been killed, how many, what services," she said. "And so, I was like, 'You know what, I can do something about this.'"
So she did. In 2014, Lacore founded Valor Run, running 160 miles in 160 hours -- one mile for each of the 160 American servicewomen who died in Iraq and Afghanistan -- from Chesapeake, Virginia to the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, raising $33,000 for military charities.
"It's not about me running," she said at the time. "It's about the people coming together and recognizing all the women who have died." The nonprofit ran for ten years, awarding more than $30,000 in scholarships to children whose mothers served in those wars.
Lacore's campaign is centered on putting people first -- affordability, opportunity, and honoring service. "Hard work should result in a stable life," she said. "Americans deserve a lower cost of living -- housing, healthcare, childcare, and daily essentials -- so families, seniors, veterans, and young Americans can build secure futures." With four of her six children now in the workforce, she knows the challenges young people, in particular, are facing firsthand.
South Carolina's 1st District, which includes Charleston, Beaufort, and the surrounding Lowcountry, leans Republican -- Trump won it by 13 points in 2024. But there's precedent for an upset: in 2018, Democrat Joe Cunningham flipped this very seat in one of the biggest upsets of the midterm cycle, becoming the first Democrat to represent the Charleston-based district since 1981. Cunningham lost narrowly to Mace in 2020, but Democrats believe that in a wave election year, with the right candidate, the seat could flip again.
Nancy Lacore -- a decorated combat veteran, a three-star admiral, a mother of six, and the founder of a nonprofit to honor fallen servicewomen -- may be exactly that candidate. As she declared: "I've served my whole life, and I'm not done yet."
To learn more about Nancy Lacore's campaign and how to get involved, visit https://www.nancylacore.com/
For women considering running for office at any level, there are several organizations that can help including Emerge America (https://emergeamerica.org), Vote Run Lead (https://voterunlead.org/), and She Should Run (https://www.sheshouldrun.org)
For books for children about trailblazing female political leaders in the U.S. -- both historically and in modern times -- visit our blog post, “Remember the Ladies: 25 Children's Books on Women in Politics” at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11162
For a children's book that gives groundbreaking women in the military, past and present, the respect they deserve, we highly recommend "Heroism Begins With Her: Inspiring Stories of Bold, Brave, and Gutsy Women in the U.S. Military" for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/heroism-begins-with-her
For more books for young readers that honor the service of women in the military, visit our blog post "The Price of Peace: A Mighty Girl Recognizes Veterans" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12356
For books for children and teens about the importance of standing up for truth, decency, and justice, even in dark times, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
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Thanks to ABC News for sharing this image!
