With Honor Action is a left-leaning “social welfare” lobbying and advocacy group which seeks to increase veteran participation in political leadership and increase government benefits to veterans. ¹ With Honor Action oversees two political action committees, the With Honor Fund and With Honor PAC. Collectively, the three organizations are known as With Honor, though the With Honor Fund is often referred to simply as With Honor.

With Honor Action claims to be non-partisan. Its efforts and associated PACs fund Republican and Democratic veteran candidates. However, With Honor Action and its PACs have received disproportionate funding from left-of-center individuals and nonprofits and have been accused of supporting primarily moderate-to-liberal Republican candidates.

Positions

With Honor Action ties the decline in the proportion of military veterans in Congress from 74% of the body in 1973 to 18% in 2019 to historically low levels of trust in the government, and claims a reversal of these trends can lead to more effective overall administration. ² With Honor Action has been covered by numerous major media outlets, including: MSNBC,³ Fox News,⁴ the Atlantic,⁵ and Time. ⁶

The organization funds veterans’ groups, like the NYC Veterans Alliance. ⁷

With Honor Action asks candidates endorsed by itself or funded by its associated PACs to sign the With Honor Pledge, which obligates the official to “integrity,” “civility” and “courage.” ⁸

Donors

With Honor Action receives much of its funding from its associated organizations. Thus far in the 2020 election cycle, Action received $1,475,000 from the With Honor Fund. ⁹ The expenditure amounted to about 40% of the With Honor Fund’s expenditure for the cycle. ¹⁰

In 2019, With Honor Action received $200,000 from Unite America, a left-of-center PAC that advocates for electoral system changes. ¹¹

Controversy

With Honor Action has been accused of primarily supporting left-of-center politics despite its bipartisan commitment. ¹²

With Honor’s PACs have received support from numerous left-of-center individuals. In 2018, Jeff Bezos, who is known for rarely giving to charities or political causes, donated $10 million to the With Honor PAC. ¹³ The same year, former New York Mayor and onetime 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg donated $250,000,¹⁴ and liberal former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz gave $50,000,¹⁵ to the With Honor Fund.

While With Honor’s PACs give equally to Republican and Democratic candidates, its Republican beneficiaries have tended to be from the moderate wing of the GOP or critical of President Trump. For instance, unsuccessful Congressional candidate Jason Church (R-WI) received $602,500 from the With Honor PAC,¹⁶ and U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) received $819,000 from the With Honor Fund. ¹⁷

1. “With Honor Endorses Nine Next-generation Veterans for Congress.” With Honor. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000161-2893-d52c-abe3-68d3c0110002.
2. “Purpose” With Honor Action. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://withhonor.org/purpose/.
3. “Organization puts support behind vets running for office.” MSNBC. Accessed March 22, 2020. http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/organization-puts-support-behind-vets-running-for-office-1093035075545.
4. “’With Honor’ supports veterans running for Congress.” Fox News. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://video.foxnews.com/v/5721131065001?playlist_id=930909787001#sp=show-clips.
5. “A New Group Wants to Elect More Veterans – From Both Parties.” The Atlantic. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/veterans-may-be-the-only-americans-still-putting-country-before-party/551420/.
6. “A Change to the Tax Code Hurt Fallen Soldiers’ Families. Now a Bipartisan Push Wants to Fix It.” Time. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://time.com/5596397/gold-star-families-bill-bipartisan/.
7. “Partners in Our Success.” NYC Veterans Alliance. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.nycveteransalliance.org/partners.
8. “With Honor Endorses Nine Next-generation Veterans for Congress.” With Honor. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000161-2893-d52c-abe3-68d3c0110002.
9. “Vendor/Recipient: With Honor Action Inc (C4).” Open Secrets. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2020&vendor=With+Honor+Action+Inc+%28C4%29.
10. “With Honor Fund.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2020&cmte=C00659011.
11. “Report of Receipts and Disbursements.” Federal Exchange Commission. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/588/201907299152044588/201907299152044588.pdf.
12. Moore, Richard. “Group backed by Bloomberg, Bezos spends heavily for Church.” Northwood River News. Accessed March 22, 2020. http://www.rivernewsonline.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=87948.
13. “Jeff Bezos donates $10 million to nonpartisan super PAC to elect military veterans.” CNBC. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/jeff-bezos-donates-10-million-to-super-pacwith-honor-fund.html.
14. “Bloomberg, Michael R: Donor Detail.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/donor_detail.php?cycle=2018&id=U0000003704&type=I&super=N&name=Bloomberg%2C+Michael+R.
15. “Despite ‘Centrist Independent’ bid, Howard Shultz a longtime Democratic donor.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/howard-schultz-a-longtime-democratic-donor/.
16. Moore, Richard. “Group backed by Bloomberg, Bezos spends heavily for Church.” Northwood River News. Accessed March 22, 2020. http://www.rivernewsonline.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=87948.
17. “With Honor Fund.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00659011.