{"id":82498,"date":"2026-05-19T00:35:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/05\/19\/hegseth-campaigns-for-congressional-race-breaking-with-pentagon-neutrality\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:40:27","slug":"hegseth-campaigns-for-congressional-race-breaking-with-pentagon-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2026\/05\/19\/hegseth-campaigns-for-congressional-race-breaking-with-pentagon-neutrality\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth campaigns for congressional race, breaking with Pentagon neutrality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> on Monday campaigned for a Republican congressional<\/a> challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump in an extremely unusual move that broke with the military\u2019s longstanding tradition of political neutrality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking the stage at a rally for Ed Gallrein, Hegseth<\/a> railed against Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican who has publicly feuded with Trump and is facing Gallrein in a contentious primary for Kentucky\u2019s 4th Congressional District. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth\u2019s support has sparked online condemnation as a violation of the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty. Pentagon<\/a> officials and military leaders have historically avoided overtly partisan political activity to align with the armed forces\u2019 nonpartisan identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth said he attended the event after awarding Purple Heart medals to soldiers but gave a perfunctory statement at the start of his speech in an attempt to distance himself from role as Defense Secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to say upfront, for the lawyers, that I\u2019m here in my personal capacity as a private citizen, a fellow American, and a fellow combat veteran here to support Navy Seal Ed Gallrein,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell pushed back against accusations that Hegseth\u2019s participation violated the neutrality of his role, arguing in a statement that the secretary\u2019s attendance was \u201cin his personal capacity,\u201d and would not use taxpayer money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute,\u201d Parnell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth\u2019s appearance came as the U.S. remains heavily embroiled in the war with Iran, a conflict that Massie has denounced. Massie has also broken with Trump on other issues, criticizing U.S. aid to Israel and spearheading legislation to release the Epstein files. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his roughly 12-minute speech, Hegseth repeatedly chastised Massie, saying, \u201cPresident Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point, especially from his own party. He needs people willing to help him win and vote with him when it matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secretary also railed against \u201cwoke trainings, political indoctrination, diversity quotas, climate seminars, pronouns [and] dudes in dresses,\u201d before lauding Gallrein\u2019s military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gallrein\u2019s website, he served for 30 years and deployed repeatedly as a Navy SEAL officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday campaigned for a congressional challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump in a move that has sparked outcry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,62,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3387],"class_list":["post-82498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KWFZXVQP4JAWPBR2MMUNO4JXPQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2026\/05\/19\/hegseth-campaigns-for-congressional-race-breaking-with-pentagon-neutrality\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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