Two more prominent Democratic candidates are calling for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation amid a scandal that has embroiled the VA.
Former Florida governor and current gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Georgia Democratic Senate nominee Michelle Nunn added their names to the growing list of southern Democrats joining Republicans’ call for Shinseki to step down, signaling mounting pressure on the secretary.
President Obama and other congressional Democrats have so far stood by Shinseki as the claims mount that veterans were made to wait for medical care and that VA employees engaged in a cover-up.
“There is growing evidence that the Department of Veterans Affairs needs new leadership in order to reform its badly broken bureaucracy,” Nunn said in a release on Friday morning, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “I hope that General Shinseki will step aside to allow for fresh leadership to tackle these pressing issues and support the veterans that the General is deeply committed to serving.”
Crist called for Shinseki’s resignation on Thursday afternoon.
“I appreciate Secretary Eric Shinseki’s service to his country, and while we don’t know precisely what happened here, we do know that there must be accountability and confidence in leadership in order to get to the truth and provide veterans the medical care they’ve earned and deserve. That confidence is gone. I think it would be best if the Secretary stepped down and allowed others to get the VA fixed once and for all,” Crist said in a statement, according to Talking Points Memo.
Crist left the Republican Party to become an Independent in 2010, facing and eventually losing to Marco Rubio for an open U.S. Senate seat. The former Florida governor cited Republican extremism as the reason for his move. In 2012, Crist formally joined the Democratic Party and is now challenging Gov. Rick Scott to retake the office he once held.









