Pete Hegseth Urges Military Personnel to Register for Midterms

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth released a video on September 25 urging 2.1 million U.S. service members and their eligible family members to register for the 2026 midterm elections. Hegseth directed personnel to the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website and detailed the use of standardized federal postcards and write-in absentee ballots for those forward deployed.

Hegseth instructed military commanders and voting assistance officers to actively facilitate registration and get out the vote, while explicitly stating they must not tell subordinates which candidates to support. The push follows FVAP data showing a decline in active-duty registration from 2020 to 2024, with only 67 percent of members registered. Hegseth noted that the 300,000 unregistered service members from 2024 outnumber the ballots cast in cities such as Detroit, Boston, Milwaukee, and Seattle.

The directive arrives amid significant political tension. Representative Thomas Massie recently introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth, alleging abuse of power following Hegseth's active campaigning for Republican candidates, including Ed Gallrein, who defeated Massie in a primary. The effort to increase military turnout comes as Republicans face difficult odds in the midterms and President Donald Trump's popularity declines in polling.