A star Democratic recruit has a family secret that's been buried for 30 years. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter to uncover the mystery

By CHASE HOPE, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 23:42, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 23:56, 8 July 2026 The Democratic Party recruit to flip a battleground House seat in this fall is a tough-talking Marine veteran who has chosen to cloak her personal life in a cloud of mystery. The first-time federal candidate has out-fundraised her Republican opponent and garnered national media attention during her campaign. She served four years in the Navy and, later, 18 years in the Marine Corps, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Democrats are gunning for as many House seats as they can get in their efforts to turn Congress blue.  But this candidate, a self-described ‘single mother by choice,’ has been hiding a 30-year-old secret about her family life, which the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal. It involves a trip to Syria, in between stints in the Armed Forces, and a flight back - alone. Sign up for our DC Insider newsletter to find out the identity of the candidate, the nature of her secret, and how a Republican operative reacted - though the would-be Congresswoman's campaign did not respond to our request for comment. DC Insider is the Daily Mail's sharp, witty and well-connected guide to Washington. Delivered to your inbox every Thursday afternoon, it is packed full of exclusive reporting, juicy gossip too hot to publish anywhere else, behind-the-scenes color and the stories everyone is really talking about. Politics is fast. We're faster. Join us to become a DC Insider with a front-row seat at the center of American power.