Veterans running in the 2024 Congressional Elections

Editor’s note: We Are The Mighty is a non-partisan organization and nothing within this article should suggest an endorsement. However, we strongly encourage veterans and military family members to run for office and get involved!

The University of San Francisco (USFCA) and Veterans Campaign have been tracking congressional candidates with military experience and are releasing the following initial pre-election analysis. 

The number of veterans in Congress has been steadily declining over the last 50 years, coinciding with the end of the draft and a decreasing proportion of Americans with military experience. Over the past decade, a significant number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been elected, but until recently, this influx has not been sufficient to make up for the retirement of previous generations of veterans. In 2022, 80 veterans were elected to the House – six more than the previous election – marking the first significant increase in decades. While it’s uncertain if 2024 will bring another increase, the long-term decline in congressional military service appears to have leveled off. 

Key Insights 

House Races – We have identified 174 veterans who have received a nomination for the US House of Representatives in 2024. 

● This includes 120 Republicans, 53 Democrats, and one independent who advanced to the general election in California’s jungle primary. 

● This is slightly lower than in 2022 (185), but higher than any other election since 2012. 

Women Veterans continue to play a major role, with 17 earning a major party nomination, a slight uptick from 16 in 2022. 

First Increase in Veteran Incumbent Nominees in over Two Decades – This is the first time since at least 2000 that we have recorded an increase in the number of veteran incumbents who have received a nomination (69 in 2024 vs. 62 in 2022). 

Democrats with Military Service are Facing Tougher Districts 

● In recent elections, non-incumbent veterans have been nominated in districts that, on average, lean more Republican than those where non-incumbent nominees without military service are running. This means that Democratic veterans are, on average, facing more Republican-leaning districts, while Republican veterans are competing in relatively less challenging districts.

Senate Races – We have identified 16 major party Senate nominees with military service: Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Matthew Corey (R-CT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Bob McDermott (R-HI), Jim Banks (R-IN), Demitroula Kouzounas (R-ME), John Deaton (R-MA), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Ty Pinkins (D-MS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Lucas Kunce (D-MO), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Sam Brown (R-NV), David McCormick (R-PA), Malloy (R-VT), and Hung Cao (R-VA). Of these, only Scott and Wicker are incumbents. Additionally, although not a major party nominee, independent Dan Osborn, who served in the U.S. Navy and the Army National Guard, has emerged as a competitive candidate in Nebraska. 

Presidential Race – Veterans also are playing an interesting role in the presidential election, as both major nominees chose veterans as their running mates. 

● This is the first time since 2008 that there has been a veteran nominated for either president or vice president. 

● Prior to 2012, every presidential election included at least one veteran as a major party nominee for president or vice president, since 1932. 

Table 1. Recent Trends in Congressional Military Service 

Table 2. Veteran House of Representatives Nominees – 2024 

14 CA 7 Tom Silva Republican No Army Male

Notes on Table 2: 

1. We include veterans of the US Armed Forces. We do not include candidates who: a. served in state militias 

b. attended a service academy and/or ROTC but did not commission 

c. served in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps or NOA 

2. We classify the National Guard as “army” and the Air National Guard as “Air Force”

3. For simplicity, we include a single military service when candidates have served in multiple branches 4. We include only major party nominees, with the following caveats: 

a. In states with jungle primaries (CA, WA, & AK) we include all candidates who earn a spot on the general election ballot, regardless of their political affiliation 

b. We do not include candidates (including incumbents) from Louisiana, which has no primary c. We do not include non-voting delegates 

5. In general, we obtain information regarding military service from the candidates’ websites a. If campaign websites do not mention military service, we sometimes find it in other media reports 6. We do NOT verify military service against Department of Defense records