Hegseth's ousted 3-star admiral turns Pentagon shake-up into a 2026 House fight
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) says “there are a lot” of midterm races where Democrats could flip seats held by Republicans. As one example, he cites the Democratic candidate running in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, Admiral Nancy Lacore, saying that race “can be critical to Democrats winning back the House of Representatives.” Meanwhile, in South Carolina’s Senate race, Kelly told @margbrennan he’s stumping for the Democratic candidate, Dr. Annie Andrews, at an event Sunday and that “she's working incredibly hard, she's raising the resources to be successful.”
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 4, 2026
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's Pentagon overhaul has produced an unusual political afterlife for one of its most senior military figures, former Vice Adm Nancy Lacore. She was removed as chief of the Navy Reserve by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in 2025 and is now running for Congress.
Sen Mark Kelly highlighted Lacore during a Sunday, October 4, 'Face the Nation' interview while campaigning for Democrats in South Carolina, describing her as a fellow naval aviator who was “fired by Pete Hegseth early in this administration.”
Pete Hegseth ended Nancy Lacore's command abruptly
Lacore had been chief of the Navy Reserve for roughly a year when Hegseth ordered her removal in August 2025.
No public reason was given.
She later said Adm James Kilby, then acting Navy chief, summoned her to the Pentagon and delivered the decision.
Lacore recalled leaving the building roughly an hour later and said she never returned to the Pentagon or wore her uniform again.
According to Lacore’s account to The Bulwark published in April, Kilby appeared distraught and told her Hegseth wanted her gone immediately.
She said Kilby believed women in senior Navy positions were vulnerable under the new leadership.
Those comments were Lacore’s account of the encounter. The Pentagon has not publicly said that gender was the reason for her removal.
Their clash ran through military culture
The disagreement also sits against a larger ideological divide over military culture.
Hegseth had criticized what he described as “wokeness” and DEI policies in the armed forces, while a 2022 Navy Reserve document listed Lacore as a flag champion for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Yet Lacore also implemented the Trump administration’s rollback of those policies.
In January 2025, while still leading the Reserve, she signed a memo canceling six Reserve policies, including diversity, equal-employment-opportunity and military-equal-opportunity policies.
A Navy official said the changes were being made to comply with presidential executive orders.
Lacore has separately rejected the argument that military promotions were driven by diversity considerations, saying promotion boards were “100% merit based.”
Her daughter dropped a Navy scholarship
The fallout reached Lacore’s family.
Her daughter Lillian had been preparing to attend the University of Pittsburgh through a Navy Nurse Corps scholarship and had completed basic training.
Lacore said that on the night she was removed, her daughter decided to give up the scholarship.
Lacore told Reserve & National Guard that the decision deeply affected her and suggested other young women might draw similar conclusions about military service.
Her earlier public posts had celebrated her daughter’s planned path into the Navy Nurse Corps.
Lacore accused Hegseth of politicizing promotions
Lacore entered politics with a complicated partisan history.
She has been described as a former Republican and now presents herself as a pragmatic, results-oriented moderate.
Her campaign emphasizes military service, affordability and health care rather than a traditional partisan biography.
After her dismissal, she repeatedly accused Hegseth of removing senior officers without explanation and later connected her experience to his treatment of other Navy officers.
Pete Hegseth has once again interfered with the Navy promotion list. in Congress, I will fight to make sure politics do not interfere with our military. https://t.co/825qAUVKW7
— Nancy Lacore (@nancylacore) July 15, 2026
Lacore has directly challenged Hegseth’s approach to military leadership, accusing him of using personnel decisions to enforce political loyalty.
In September, her campaign circulated criticism of Hegseth after reports that women and Black officers had been blocked from promotions.
She said the episode reminded her of her own removal and showed what she described as a broader pattern of intimidation.
Those are campaign claims, rather than established findings about Lacore’s own dismissal.
The firing became her campaign origin story
Lacore announced her congressional bid in January, saying she had been removed “without cause” but still had more work to do.
Yet another firing by Hegseth. Our service members deserve better than these political games. https://t.co/Gd5WXM4PUh
— Nancy Lacore (@nancylacore) April 3, 2026
She won the Democratic nomination in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District and is now running in the November general election.
Recent advertisements have also brought her daughter’s cancer diagnosis and healthcare costs into the race, expanding the story from military leadership to family and household concerns.
