Washington D.C. –
The Forward Party announced today its endorsement of two U.S. House candidates, Democrat John Gregory Vincent in South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District and Republican Bob Smith in California’s 24th Congressional District.
Vincent and Smith are running under different party labels and on opposite sides of the country, but both bring decades of military and professional experience to their campaigns. Both are Navy veterans who went on to careers focused on organizational leadership and problem-solving, and both have made constituent service and practical governance central themes of their campaigns.
“These endorsements demonstrate that Forward’s support isn’t determined by the letter next to a candidate’s name. What matters is whether candidates are prepared to serve their constituents, work with people who may not share their politics and focus on delivering results for the communities they represent.”
-Lindsey Drath, CEO, Forward Party
John Gregory Vincent – South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District
Vincent, a Democrat running in South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and rose to Command Master Chief, a senior enlisted leadership position responsible for the welfare, training and morale of service members. His career included submarine operations as well as leadership of a multi-branch command spanning seven bases and five military branches. Following his military retirement, Vincent worked as a leadership development consultant with Gallup before establishing his own small business focused on leadership development and service-based consulting. His work has included advising municipal leaders, fire and police departments, nonprofits and other organizations.
Vincent served on the Board of Directors of the Augusta Kiwanis and as Small and Minority Business co-chair for the Florence Chamber of Commerce and is involved with the committee supporting the Veterans Park in Florence. He has also been an advocate for alcohol use disorder treatment and reducing the stigma surrounding recovery, drawing on his more than two decades of sobriety. His candidacy has been endorsed by the union representing employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in South Carolina.
Vincent’s campaign is organized around four areas: affordability; jobs, small businesses, farms and schools; healthcare and veterans’ services; and government accountability and the federal budget.
Bob Smith – California’s 24th Congressional District
Across the country, Bob Smith advanced to the general election as a Republican in California’s 24th Congressional District, which stretches along California’s Central Coast. Smith has built his campaign around an independent-minded, cross-partisan approach to governing, emphasizing constituent service, practical problem-solving, and putting the Central Coast ahead of partisan politics.
Smith began his Navy career as an enlisted sailor and ultimately retired as a Commander after more than 26 years of service. A combat veteran, he held leadership roles supporting some of the Navy’s most complex engineering and weapons systems, as well as international disaster relief operations for which he received the Humanitarian Service Medal. In 2023, he was named the U.S. Navy Engineer of the Year.
Smith holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering and currently works as a defense systems engineer. He has brought that engineering background into his campaign, emphasizing an approach centered on defining problems, evaluating competing solutions, working with people across ideological lines, and measuring results.
Smith’s cross-partisan approach is reflected in the campaign he has built. His congressional team includes Republicans, Democrats, and independents working together around a shared commitment to practical problem-solving and service to the Central Coast. That approach reflects a central theme of his candidacy: political affiliation should not prevent people from working together to solve problems and serve the communities they represent.
His campaign identifies four primary issue areas: affordability, education, energy and water, and immigration, all framed around a broader commitment to putting the Central Coast first. Across those issues, Smith has argued that elected officials should be accountable first to the people they represent rather than to a political party.
The endorsements of Vincent and Smith are part of Forward’s cross-partisan candidate strategy, through which the party supports candidates regardless of affiliation whose approach to governing aligns with its principles of representation and service to voters rather than partisan interests. That approach also supports Forward’s broader Fulcrum Strategy: building a bloc of elected officials willing to act independently of party leadership on consequential votes, helping shift the incentive in Congress from party loyalty toward earning support on the merits of legislation.
Vincent and Smith are both running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 2026 general election.
You can find out more about each candidate here:
