More than 300 military family members endorse Biden

More than 300 military family members are endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president.

In an open letter released Friday, the spouses, parents, siblings and children of service members endorsed Biden as a “man of integrity with a lifelong record of public service and leadership.”

“Joe and Jill Biden are a military family,” the endorsers wrote. “They are intimately familiar with the fear, anxiety and pride that come with sending a loved one into harm’s way. But they are more than a military family. They have been staunch advocates for service members, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.”

President Trump’s actions, by contrast, have “convinced us that he does not value the lives of those who serve,” the letter said.

Among the more high-profile signatories are Annie McChrystal, whose husband, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, endorsed Biden earlier this month; Joyce Raezer, former executive director of the National Military Family Association; former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who previously endorsed Biden, and his wife Dorothy McAuliffe; and Kathy Roth-Douquet, co-founder of Blue Star Families.

Mary Winnefeld, wife of former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. James Winnefeld, and Rosemary Williams, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for military community and family policy in the Obama administration, are also among the signatories.

“There is no doubt in my mind or conflict in my heart that we are at a crossroads in history and that the current administration has not served the nation well in bringing us together as Americans,” said Julie Luckey, senior adviser to Military Families for Biden and wife of retired Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, who served as chief of the Army Reserve until June and signed a previous letter endorsing Biden.

“I support the rule of law,” she added in the statement. “I embrace both diversity and unity. I am committed to the common good. Electing Team Biden/Harris is the necessary first step toward saving the republic and healing the wounds that have festered in our divided country for far too long. We have work to do, but it starts here. It starts now.”

Also on the letter are Suzie Schwartz, wife of former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norty Schwartz, and Mary Jo Myers, wife of former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, both of whom signed a previous letter endorsing Biden.

The new letter comes as Biden racks up national security-related endorsements.

Earlier this week, nearly 300 more former national security officials added their names to an endorsement letter that already had nearly 500 signatures, including dozens of retired four-star officers and several officials who served under Trump.

The Trump campaign, for its part, has released an endorsement letter from 235 retired officers.

In Friday’s letter endorsing Biden, the military family members highlighted Trump’s dismissal of an alleged Russian plot offering bounties to Taliban fighters to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, his fight with a Gold Star family during the 2016 election, and his derision of prisoners of war such as the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in comments that he “like[s] people that weren’t captured.”

The letter also cited Trump’s threat to send active-duty troops to quell protests, as well as his abrupt drawdowns in Syria, which critics argue abandoned the United States’s Kurdish partners and the letter said “makes a mockery of the loyalty that we prize.”

Meanwhile, Biden, whose son Beau Biden served in Iraq and died of brain cancer in 2015, has worked to ensure Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange received medical benefits, and Jill Biden helped launch the Joining Forces initiative calling on Americans to support service members, veterans and their families through wellness, education and employment opportunities, the letter said.

“We believe public service is patriotic. We believe America’s people — and the very idea of America — deserve protection. We are humbled to stand alongside our loved one as they take an oath to protect our Nation,” they wrote. “Threats to those ideals shake us to our core. We believe the current administration threatens those ideals every day.”