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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When Maine Democratic<\/span> Senate hopeful Graham Platner sealed the deal on his resounding primary victory in June<\/a>, the oysterman turned political lightning rod sounded a note of defiance \u2014 one that resonated with another would-be candidate across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Washington state, Alex Scheel, who is also a veteran of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saw Platner\u2019s win and decided to take the plunge. He officially launched his congressional bid to unseat incumbent Rep. Marilyn Strickland on June 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPlatner is an inspiration for this, he\u2019s got a similar background to me with the veteran thing,\u201d Scheel said in an interview with The Intercept. \u201cI think Americans are so tired and disengaged. \u2026 There\u2019s hope for more left-wing candidates to challenge Trump and the corporate Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n At 38, Scheel is a few years younger than Platner, but he\u2019s a more seasoned organizer; a longtime member of Democratic Socialists of America, Scheel has been his local branch\u2019s housing justice chair, secretary-treasurer, membership coordinator, and campaign coordinator.<\/p>\n Scheel\u2019s hopeful that his experience with the DSA \u2014 which is currently enjoying electoral upsets in Colorado<\/a> and New York<\/a> \u2014 as well as the political moment that Platner and other insurgent candidates<\/a> have tapped into will propel him through the state\u2019s August 4 primary. Like California, Washington has jungle primaries, where the top two finishers (of any party) advance, meaning that if his long-shot candidacy pays off, he wouldn\u2019t have to beat Strickland outright until November.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are hungry for normal, regular, working-class people to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cPeople are hungry for normal, regular, working-class people to step up and say, \u2018If we get together, we can build power, and we can make America, we can make the world a better, safer, peaceful place,\u2019\u201d Scheel said. \u201cIt\u2019s obvious that we\u2019re ready for that. Whether it\u2019s Mainers or whether it\u2019s Washingtonians, we don\u2019t want the same old neoliberal politics.\u201d<\/p>\n While more left-leaning than many of their peers, Platner and Scheel are part of a large cohort<\/a> of veterans<\/a> running for office this cycle. According to data<\/a> from the advocacy group With Honor, which tracks veterans in politics, 2026 has seen a 47 percent increase in candidates with military backgrounds from 2024, with 752 running so far, up from 513.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Born in San Diego<\/span> in 1987 and raised in northern Michigan, Scheel joined the military in 2007. He served as an interrogator in Iraq until 2011 and in 2012 worked in intelligence in Afghanistan. That experience \u201cradicalized\u201d him, Scheel said. Speaking to men his age who were potential \u201cenemies,\u201d he instead found common ground with their frustration and could relate to their rage.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an interrogator, I sat and talked to Iraqis and Afghans every day and got to know them and got to understand where they were coming from,\u201d he said. Scheel said his interaction with one man, Muthanna, sticks with him in particular. He told Scheel \u201chow the Americans came in, invaded, bombed the electricity plants, and bombed water treatment plants. They had four hours of electricity a day and no clean drinking water, [the U.S.] killed his dad in the invasion, and they threw his uncles into prison.\u201d<\/p>\n Scheel continued, \u201cHe was painting this horrible picture. I had enough empathy to put myself in his spot and go, \u2018Holy shit, I would do the exact same thing. I would join any sort of group that tried to defend my country and my family and friends.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In 2014, Scheel left the military and relocated to Washington, where he attended Evergreen State College. Four years later, he got involved in community activism after joining the Tiki tenants fight in Tacoma, where a developer attempted to displace poor, disabled, and elderly tenants of an apartment building. (While the organizers won some concessions, the project ultimately went forward<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of my service, I realized that our government is often just straight-up lying to you,\u201d Scheel said. \u201cWe can go bomb and kill and do all this horrible shit in the name of democracy or whatever, and your average person doesn\u2019t know it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\n