Eric Bronner is a co-founder and the chief operating officer of Veterans for Political Innovation, an election administration advocacy group that supports open primaries, ranked-choice voting, and other changes to election procedures. Bronner claims not to align with either of the two major political parties and has claimed that electoral reform is more important than other policy goals.

Background

Eric Bronner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but lives in the Saint Louis, Missouri area. Bronner is the grandson of Emanuel Bronner, the founder of the Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps company. In 2003, the Bronner Family established the Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation, a grantmaking foundation through which Eric Bronner gives away $100,000 per year. ^{1 2 3}

Career

From 1993 to 1997, Eric Bronner attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he earned a bachelor of science degree in political science and government. Bronner then served in the U.S. Navy as a flight officer until 2005. From 2006 to 2007, Bronner attended Saint Louis University School of Law, and then finished his law degree at the Washington University in Saint Louis from 2007 to 2009. ⁴

From 2009 to 2011, Bronner started his legal career as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court in the Southern District in Saint Louis. Bronner then worked for less than a year at a law firm focusing on land-use, employment, and local government litigation. ⁵

In 2012, Bronner joined the criminal defense law firm Lockwood Lawgroup, where he still works as of May 2023. Bronner also became a real estate agent in 2012 and continues to work part-time in the field. ^{6 7}

In 2018, Bronner became a board member of the Webster Rochkill Shrewsbury Chamber of Commerce. ⁸

From 2019 to January 2023, Bronner served as a board member of Show Me Integrity, a “cross-partisan” government watchdog group based in Missouri. ⁹

Veterans for Political Innovation

Eric Bronner’s parents were “active union member” teachers and “proud Democrats,” who gave Bronner “Democratic roots.” However, Bronner says he became more conservative when he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the U.S. Navy, and after he became religious after leaving the service. ¹⁰

Bronner claims that despite being passionate about politics from a young age and the various political influences in his life, he has never identified with a political party, and commonly cites the statistic that almost 50 percent of military veterans identify as independents. Bronner has said that he always wanted to run for office or be involved in politics, but his lack of commitment to a party stifled his ambitions. In an interview, Bronner said that after his legal and real-estate careers he had a “little bit of a mid-life crisis” due to not finding fulfillment in his work. ¹¹

In 2018, Bronner listened to the Freakonomics podcast episode “America’s Hidden Duopoly,” which alleges problems in American politics stemming from the two-party system. Bronner connected with the podcast’s message and came to believe that advocating for political policy goals was less important than changing the structure of the political process. The podcast inspired Bronner to embrace his “life’s calling” of advocating for electoral reform. ¹²

In 2020, while working at a polling station in Saint Louis, Bronner was approached by a military veteran who praised his political passion and encouraged him to become more active in veteran political advocacy. Bronner then came up with the idea of rallying veterans to advocate for non-partisan electoral reform. ¹³

Through LinkedIn, Bronner reached out to Dan Biga, a former employee of the With Honor PAC and Bunker Labs, a nonprofit that supports veteran businesses. Bronner, Biga, and Bunker Labs founder Todd Connor founded Veterans for Political Innovation (VPI) in 2021. ¹⁴

VPI advocates for what it calls “Final-Five Voting,” a package of voting reforms in the primaries and general election. VPI “is generally supportive” of other voting reforms but focuses its efforts on Final-Five Voting, which includes open primaries that send the top five candidates to a general election using ranked-choice voting or another alternative to the plurality voting system. VPI claims that these reforms will reduce political polarization and increase voter turnout. ¹⁵

On VPI’s website, the Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation is listed as one of two nonprofit funders. ¹⁶ In 2022, the foundation gave $50,000 to VPI. ¹⁷

1. “About.” Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://bronnerfamilyfoundation.org/about/.
2. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
3. Baugher, David. “Dr. Bronner’s Legacy of Giving.” Webster-Kirkwood Times. October 19, 2018. Updated October 26, 2018. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/dr-bronner-s-legacy-of-giving/article_377f6156-d2d9-11e8-aa81-5bf095793b4d.html.
4. “Eric Bronner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbronner/.
5. “Eric Bronner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbronner/.
6. “Eric Bronner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbronner/
7. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
8. “Eric Bronner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbronner/.
9. “Eric Bronner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbronner/.
10. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
11. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
12. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
13. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
14. “Episode 60: Level the Playing Field with Eric Bronner.” Speaker. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.spreaker.com/user/unitynowpodcast/un-ep60-ericbronner-topublish.
15. ^[1] “Frequently Asked Questions.” Veterans for Political Innovation. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.veteransforpoliticalinnovation.org/faqs
16. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Veterans for Political Innovation. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://www.veteransforpoliticalinnovation.org/faqs
17. “Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed May 19, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/431979565/202202729349100210/full.