My experience in uniform has shaped my life and informed who I am like no other, and it's difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea that I will no longer be a soldier.

I signed up for military service in the months following 9/11, and later, as a military intelligence officer, I felt called, like so many others, to volunteer for deployment and service in Afghanistan.

The sacrifices our warfighters make for us is simply astonishing in modern American society.

Frankly, a lot of candidates have no problem being sold to the highest bidder if it means they will win.

Americans want to be represented by the best candidate, not the one with the richest friends.

Voters are smart. They know the difference between a Democratic Party that wants their vote and a Democratic Party that believes in making their life better. They'll forgive you for pushing a policy they don't like as long as they believe you're doing it because you genuinely believe it's what's best for the country.

When Democrats concede the idea that some voters are not our voters, we shouldn't be surprised when those voters agree.

The president is in charge of the military so that a single individual - accountable to Americans - is responsible for its successes and failures.

Because President Obama had an overall strategy, military and civilian leaders under his command could make reactive decisions that advanced the president's goals. In the military, we call that commander's intent: When there's a decision to be made and you don't have exact guidance at that moment, you at least know overall what your boss wants.

The men and women of the American military have the courage to follow orders. They deserve a commander-in-chief with the courage to give them.

As a former Captain in the Army National Guard, I trained hundreds of soldiers to lead troops into combat.

Voter ID laws are the most potent form of voter suppression legislation.

You can protect the integrity of elections without stopping anyone from voting.

Voting in our country has never been easy, and unfortunately, it has never been guaranteed for everyone. But through the work of brave civil rights leaders, some of whom died for the cause, by the early 2000s we were at a point where most, but still not all, people who wanted to vote could do so.

Democrats fell in love with the idea that winning elections was a matter of talking to voters about the one issue we think impacts them, instead of our plan to move the country forward as a whole.

To me, serving wasn't uncommon, and my service paled in comparison to so many of my friends who had done so much more. In my world - as a citizen soldier - I was surrounded by other soldiers just doing their jobs.

I'm proud to be a Democrat, and I feel pretty strongly that the country would be better off with Democrats in charge.

Whether it's intentional or not, Trump regularly makes news for unprecedented and nonpresidential behavior.

Voter suppression is at the very core of the Trump re-election strategy.

As the state's chief elections officer, it is my job to make sure that only eligible voters vote, but also that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote.

I believe there should be political consequences for politicians who commit voter suppression.

If you've been willing to put your life on the line to do something important for your country or your state, putting your job on the line is really not a very big deal.

We have got to zero in on the fact that all of us, no matter where you live, want our kids' lives to be an upgrade over our own, and we would really like it if our kids could come back and live where we raised them.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been an adviser to Trump, although he still very publicly couldn't land a job in the president's Cabinet, despite providing that counsel. And Kobach has a long history of making up facts to help him pass unfair voter suppression laws and push extreme anti-immigrant proposals.