Smaller But More Diverse Group of Veterans Running for Congress This Year

At a time when diversity in the military has become a political punching bag, the share of veterans running for Congress who identify as minorities ticked up this year compared to the last election.

Overall, fewer veterans will be on November’s general election ballots than during the 2022 congressional elections. But about 22% of those Republican, Democratic and third-party candidates this year are minorities, compared with about 19% two years ago, according to an analysis by the political action committee With Honor, which supports veterans running for Congress who commit to working across party lines.

“The country is also getting more diverse, which, of course, the military is a reflection of that,” said Rye Barcott, co-founder of With Honor and a Marine Corps veteran. “Both parties are aware of this as well and are interested in recruiting more minority vet members in addition to veterans in general.”

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A tally kept by Military.com found at least 189 Republicans and Democrats running for Congress in the general election this year who say they served in the military. That’s slightly down from the 196 veterans from the two major parties who competed for a seat in Congress in 2022.

This year’s class of veteran candidates includes 73 incumbents, a couple of current House members looking to make the jump to the Senate; the former face of military personnel policies at the Pentagon; long shots hoping their veteran status helps them pull off an upset victory; and challengers in some of the most competitive races in the country that could determine which party controls the House or Senate.

Republicans account for 133 of the veteran candidates, compared with 56 Democrats.

More than just a numbers game, veterans seeking office is important in a time of increasing political rancor and polarization, argue advocates who track and push for veterans to run for Congress. While veterans aren’t immune to partisanship, advocates maintain veterans’ shared experiences in the military and histories of serving the country provide opportunities to bridge partisan divides.

Three of the 10 most bipartisan members of the House are veterans, according to the Lugar Center’s annual Bipartisan Index: Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C.; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa. Of the 73 veterans in the House and Senate running for reelection this year, 25 have positive scores in the index, meaning they co-sponsor bipartisan bills more than average.

Still, anecdotal evidence shows that having shared military experience “creates the possibility” for bipartisanship, said Seth Lynn, a Marine Corps veteran and executive director of the Veterans Campaign, which trains veterans on how to run political campaigns. For example, he cited how veteran lawmakers in both parties worked together to get Americans and Afghan allies on evacuation flights during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

“It’s a question I ask myself a lot: Is doing this actually going to make a difference? And I don’t know for sure,” Lynn said of whether veterans are more bipartisan than other members of Congress. “I can just give enough anecdotal bits of evidence that, here are some times when it’s happened, and just the idea that having that shared military service still does tend to transcend partisanship, which allows for the conditions for it to happen.”

Having experience in the military can also provide lawmakers with the credibility to speak out when Congress is debating military and veterans issues, advocates say.

“People who have a military background aren’t as likely to get steamrolled by the military industrial complex,” Lynn said.

While national security issues still often find a bipartisan consensus, one of the most heated partisan debates in the last couple of years has been efforts to diversify the military. Republicans have decried what they argue is “woke” left-wing politics compromising military strength, while Democrats argue that diversity strengthens the military by better reflecting the country it defends and attracting a broader pool of recruits.

Those partisan battle lines have been true of the veterans running for Congress, too. For example, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a Navy Reserve veteran who is running for Senate this year, has been leading the charge against so-called “wokeness” in the military as the chairman of the House Armed Services Commmittee’s personnel subcommittee.

GOP veterans who are minorities have also taken that position, such as when Hung Cao, a Navy veteran and Vietnamese American who is running for Senate in Virginia, said earlier this month that the military needs “alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds” when asked at a debate how he believes diversity efforts are harming military recruiting.

On the other end of the spectrum are Democratic candidates such as Gil Cisnero, a Navy veteran who implemented many of the policies being attacked by Republicans when he was the Pentagon’s under secretary for personnel from 2021 to 2023 and who previously served one term in the House. When he launched his latest campaign for a California House seat, he blasted “continued attacks by MAGA extremists on the programs and policies that I implemented at DoD and fought for in Congress,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement.

Despite even veteran candidates echoing party talking points, the comparably diverse slate of candidates this year could show that “we may be different, but we have a common goal and a common mission,” Barcott said.

Aside from potentially working better with each other, veterans in Congress could help increase public trust in the institution, advocates argue. Congress ranks among the least trusted institutions in the country, while the military remains one of the most trusted, though that trust has also slipped in recent years.

“A lot of the qualities that seem to be absent from Congress, that people would like more of in Congress, are qualities that are inculcated in the military. Not 100%, but very often. That idea of country before self and willingness to put aside differences and work toward the common good,” Lynn said. “The idea of having some people from the most trusted institution coming into the least trusted one is probably going to add to the trust and confidence that people have in Congress overall.”

Here’s a list of all the Republicans and Democrats who are veterans who will be on the November ballot:

* Incumbent

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