Tyler Vandenberg served in the U.S. Marine Corps and won multiple games on Jeopardy! Now, he’s setting his sights on Capitol Hill.
The 31-year-old served mostly as a reservist during his seven years as a Marine between 2018 and 2025. He also has a personal claim to fame when it comes to trivia as a two-time champion of what he described as "America's program."
The military veteran has political aspirations, currently campaigning for a congressional race in California's 6th district that has recently been altered due to statewide redistricting. According to Ballotpedia, Vandenberg is one of five Democrats running in the June 2 primary that includes one Republican and one independent.
In an interview with Military.com, he talked about higher education and how his experience in the Marine Corps gave him the confidence to attempt to encourage change as a legislator.
Asked why he is running for office, Vandenberg replied, “I was very concerned about what was happening to our country.”
How Military Service Shaped His Life
Vandenberg started his Marine Corps journey in September 2018, entering the service as a walk-on.
He completed Marine Corps Officer Candidates School (OCS) and then went to tank school, graduating right about at the time the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning in March 2020. He was there for some of the very last of the Marine Corps tank capabilities after the service divested all of its M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to the U.S. Army as part of Force Design 2030.
“My time in the Marine Corps was a real kind of change in the way that I did things because it made me always conscious of wanting to do that as excellently and as thoroughly as possible,” he told Military.com.
It's a huge benefit to my life. I wouldn't be the person I am today without it.
Vandenberg then spent some time at Camp Pendleton, closing down a tank unit. When asked what he wanted to do next, he said he wound up moving laterally to intelligence.
He did just that, working as an intelligence officer for roughly five years in Hawaii, Germany, and across some bases in the U.S.
“The Marine Corps made me a stronger, more disciplined person,” he said. “The love of country and the oaths to the Constitution were already pretty important to me when I joined. That's one of the big reasons I did.
“But I think that serving with and around other Marines…it's a constant process of wanting to be stronger and better and do the job more effectively to make sure that you're a good part of the whole, but also that you're leading the Marines that you're responsible for as effectively as possible."
Marine Career Leads Vandenburg to Ivy League Education
Prior to joining the Marines, Vandenberg studied international relations and received his undergraduate degree from American University in Washington, D.C. He called it “a wonderful institution” that put him on a path to fulfill career aspirations.
“I feel very strongly about my time there,” he said. “It was a great opportunity for me, especially if you want to do any kind of political work or international relations as I did, there's really nothing that can compare to actually being immersed in Washington, D.C. while you're studying the subject and trying to intern and gain experience. It was a real benefit for me.”
Today, he’s in the process of attaining his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.
He credited the opportunity to pursue his education to the GI Bill. After he left Germany, he applied for grad school as a means of “wanting to keep bettering myself academically.”
Vandenberg was accepted, of course, and left his active-duty service in Germany to return to the U.S. It also provided the opportunity to receive veterans benefits, including not having to pay out of pocket for what typically costs tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.
“I absolutely could not afford to go to an Ivy League school if the military hadn't been there for me and if these veterans benefits hadn't been there for me,” he said. “But it's an opportunity that was available to me, and I took it. So, here we are.”
'Marines Don't Lose': Three 'Jeopardy!' Appearances Were a Lifetime Thrill
Vandenberg and his Marine Corps uniforms may be recognized by Jeopardy! Viewers.
While in the middle of a pandemic and serving his nation, he decided to apply for the long-running TV game show through its annual tests offered online. After a couple attempts he was asked to audition, which went “really well.”
He was offered a chance to be a contestant in the first season after former host Alex Trebek passed, which led to countless guest hosts temporarily taking the reins.
He recalled very distinctly how prior to shooting his first episode, he asked for permission to wear the uniform for his chain of command. He told his company commander, who said he would give Vandenburg a call back.
“I got a call from a number I didn't recognize, which I picked up,” Vandenburg said. “And it was my battalion commander, a lieutenant colonel. And he said, ‘Listen, Vandenberg, we've never met. We've never spoken. But I understand you're going to be on Jeopardy!. You're proven to wear the uniform, but I want you to remember something: Marines don't lose.’”
When Vandenberg appeared on set in Los Angeles in his service alphas, he found out that week’s guest host was ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“I ended up playing a midweek game against somebody who'd won twice before,” he said. “It's always a little intimidating. You always have to unseat the returning champion. I got the opportunity to not only make it through that first game, but two.”
During his third contest that he didn’t feel good about the outcome, though he ended up making about $42,000 in his two victories. That was the culmination of his Jeopardy! Journey, or so he thought.
Even though he didn’t win five games, which is the routine bar used for contestants to make the show’s Tournament of Champions, “a funny thing happened” and Vandenberg received a text while stationed in Germany asking if he would return to play.
That was due to the individual who unseated him being knocked out by one of the show’s biggest reigning champions, where multiple competitors over a two-season run were winning 20-plus consecutive games.
As a result, the number of five-game victors was sparse. It allowed Vandenberg to be invited back as part of a wildcard-like tournament.
Wearing his dress blues, he made it to the finals of that tournament—which he described as the show’s “varsity round”—and claimed second, walking away with a nice $50,000 consolation prize.
“It was a wonderful chance to do something a little bit unusual,” he said. “The response from the military community online was actually very positive. Marines were very excited, I think, to see one of their own on the show.”
Family of Service
Vandenberg’s foray in the political arena comes with the backdrop of his own military career, and that of his family providing him guidance and a path forward.
His grandfather was in the Navy during the Korean War. His uncle was in the Navy during the Cold War.
“But I was drawn to serve because I felt like I wanted to do my part in the way things work in the world,” he said. “I was an international relations guy in college, and a big thing that I believe is that we should always be willing to walk the walk for things that we care about and the things that we want to be professionals in.
“A huge part of international relations is the use, or the non-use, of military force. And I wanted to make sure that if I was going to work in this field, that I had done my part to be in that line as well.”
'It Looks Like America'
Now, he’s in a crowded field in a district sort of new to California voters following the passing of Proposition 50 in November 2025—an amendment that led to previous district incumbent, Democratic Rep. Ami Bera, now running in California’s 3rd District, effectively leaving this "new" seat vacant.
The district Vandenberg is trying to represent, which includes Sacramento and according to Census data had a population exceeding 747,000 citizens in 2023, has immigrant communities from all over the world.
The Sacramento area has one of the largest populations of people from Afghanistan, he noted, in addition to swaths of Ukrainians, Russians, Vietnamese, Chinese and Taiwanese Americans. There are also many South Asians and, of course, a large Hispanic and Latino community.
It's a very diverse place. It looks like America, right? It looks like the most kind of big constellation of peoples and the diversity that I really love about this country.
The issues near and dear to those in the 6th District mirror concerns across the country. Currently, that translates to Vandenberg and other current and aspiring lawmakers receiving questions about affordability and issues pertaining to the cost of health care, gas, groceries, childcare and now military conflicts abroad.
He said he became “concerned” following the 2024 presidential election. Specifically, he recalled feeling “really bothered” how in early 2025 new members of Congress were being sworn in and expressed receiving threats due to political animosities—as part of oaths made in the same vein as military service members, to the U.S. Constitution.
His two primary campaign talking points are affordability and government accountability, the latter an umbrella term for reducing illegal activity and administrations going to Congress before beginning military warfare.
“For thousands and thousands of American service members over the life of our country, that has meant that they have given the last full measure of devotion they've done,” he said. “They've literally given their lives to defend that Constitution.
“I felt that I'd done it once before, and maybe now is the time for people like me to step up and for veterans to step up who do think of it in those terms and who want to make sure that there's a country and a democracy that we served once and that we want to serve again.”
