Hillary Clinton won the endorsement on Thursday of two high-ranking generals as the Democratic presidential nominee seeks to broaden her support among the country’s military leaders.
Two four-star generals, Bob Sennewald, former commanding general of the U.S. Army Forces Command and David Maddox, former commander in chief of the U.S. Army-Europe, announced their endorsement on Thursday.
“Our votes have always been private, and neither of us has ever previously lent his name or voice to a presidential candidate,” they said in a joint statement. “Having studied what is at stake for this country and the alternatives we have now, we see only one viable leader, and will be voting this November for Secretary Hillary Clinton.”
Clinton in her race against Trump has attempted to attract Republican support, reaching out to Republican donors and businessman as well as current top GOP officials. The deputy assistant secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, James Clad endorsed Clinton on Wednesday, along with others from Republican administrations including former director of national intelligence John Negroponte, former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft and former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage.
Largely considered more hawkish than the rest of her party, Clinton supports a no-fly zone over Syria and expanded assistance to the ground effort to fight ISIS.
Clinton’s easiest avenue to support across the aisle has been through emphasizing her foreign policy chops. Some fifty Republican national security officials, including many top aides to former president George W. Bush, warned in an August letter that Trump “would put at risk our country’s national security.”
She has attacked Trump for saying the military is weak. “I completely reject anyone, including my opponent, who calls the American military, and I quote, ‘a disaster,’” Clinton said in a speech to the American Legion on Wednesday. “That is an insult to the men and women serving today and all who have served before who have put their lives on the line.”
Trump has dismissed criticism from Republican security officials. “Look at the terrible job they’ve done,” Trump said in August.