Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressed U.S. troops and their families to register and cast ballots in the 2026 midterms, citing hundreds of thousands who sat out the last cycle.
In a nearly two-minute video released Friday, the Pentagon chief told service members they can register and request a ballot with a standardized federal postcard no matter their home state or duty status.
The Hill reported that Hegseth pointed troops to the Federal Voting Assistance Program website and warned that about 300,000 service members did not register two years ago. He framed the push as a basic duty to the force, not a partisan order.
Hegseth told commanders and voting assistance officers to encourage registration and turnout. He drew a clear line on what they may not do.
"You're not telling them who to vote for. You're just telling them to vote."
He also told voting assistance officers to “get out there” and register service members. The processes he described are protected by law, including a federal report-in absentee ballot when a standard ballot is delayed for troops forward deployed.
Federal Voting Assistance Program figures show the gap is real. About 67 percent of active-duty members were registered for the 2024 election, a three-point drop from 2020.
Seventy-one percent of the 1.3 million active-duty force are eligible for an absentee ballot with special protections because they serve away from their voting residence. That is the population Hegseth is trying to reach before the midterms.
His close carried the same theme he has used since taking the job.
"Every warrior deserves an opportunity to cast his or her ballot, and be confident that it will be counted. Keep our nation the land of the free and the home of the brave."
“Get registered and vote,” he added.
Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon after a razor-thin Senate confirmation. The chamber backed him 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote, as the New York Post reported. Three Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
He has cast his role in warrior terms from the start, writing after confirmation that the job was “for the troops. For the warriors. For our country.” That same posture runs through the voting video: treat service members as citizens who should not lose the franchise because of deployment.
Political heat around him has not eased. Senate pressure to replace him has surfaced in recent weeks, even as he keeps a public focus on the force rather than the fights on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a frequent critic, introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth earlier this month. Massie had already lost his Republican primary to former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein after Hegseth traveled to Kentucky in May to stump for the challenger.
Hegseth praised Gallrein at the time as a war fighter who understands mission, teamwork, and loyalty under fire. Last month he also appeared at the Iowa State Fair to campaign for Rep. Zach Nunn. The voting message sits beside that political travel, not apart from it.
Massie has kept up the legal and political attacks, including a separate claim that Hegseth violated the War Powers Resolution in the Iran conflict. Those fights have not stopped the defense secretary from speaking directly to the ranks about ballots.
Partisan fury toward him runs hot on the other side of the aisle as well. One swing-district Democrat who talks up bipartisanship still told a crowd she wanted to “beat the s*** out of” Hegseth, a reminder of how personal the opposition has become.
Deployed troops and families already have tools designed for their reality. The federal postcard application and the federal report-in absentee ballot exist so distance and operational tempo do not erase a vote.
Hegseth’s instruction to commanders was simple: make those tools known, push registration, and stay out of candidate talk. That is the opposite of the soft-on-participation culture that leaves hundreds of thousands of eligible warriors off the rolls.
Leadership questions around the building continue in parallel. Reports of a possible White House search tied to the deputy’s office drew a public pushback from Hegseth, who has rejected claims of a quiet replacement effort while keeping his own public schedule locked on troop issues.
Scrutiny has also followed his wife’s reported involvement in Pentagon matters, another track of controversy that sits outside the voting drive itself but shapes the noise around his tenure. The registration push does not resolve those fights. It does put a concrete number in front of the force: too many stayed unregistered last time.
Service members carry the costs of policy decisions first. When hundreds of thousands of them never make it onto the voter rolls, the people with the most skin in the game are the ones least heard. Hegseth’s video treats that as a failure worth fixing before the next election, not a footnote for after-action briefings.
Warriors who defend the ballot box should not need a reminder to use it, but the registration numbers show they do.
