Veterans in public office

For well-on thirty years, military veterans have been a decreasing presence in Congress. From the high-water mark of the 1970s when veterans made up more than three-fourths of Congress, today their numbers have receded by about 75%, inviting concern from more than one quarter about the negative ramifications a national legislative body with miniscule practical military knowledge — but significant powers over the purse and the sword — has both domestically and abroad.

But looked at from a different perspective, while Washington legislators are more likely to have served in the armed forces than those at the state level, legislators at the state and federal level are more likely to be veterans than the general population.

In 1971, veterans made up 72% of members in the House of Representatives, and 78% of the Senate. In 1991, the Congress that approved the use of force against Iraq in Operation Desert Storm had only slightly more veterans than non-veterans.

Three Congresses later, the percentage of veterans had dropped to 32%. The 114^th Congress currently features a Senate with 20% of its members as veterans and a House with 18%, split 70% Republican and 30% Democratic in the former, 75% Republican and 25% Democratic in the latter.

Across the 50 states, 7 governors and 4 lieutenant governors have military experience (Governors Robert Bentley, AL-R; Rick Scott, FL-R; Nathan Deal, GA-R; Butch Otter, ID-R; Terry Branstad, IA-R; Steven Beshear, KY-D; Gary Herbert, UT-R; Lt. Governors: Tim Griffin, AK-R; Mike Stack, PA-D; Matt Michels, SD-R; Ralph Northam, VA-D). Also at the state level, out of 1,966 state senators, 249 share military service. Out of a total of 50 states, only one—Mississippi—currently has no state senator who has served in the military (but its US Senator Thad Cochran served in the Navy for several years).  Of all state senators, current tabulations put 170 as Republican, 79 Democratic.

The predominantly red numbers spell out an interesting, though somewhat misleading story.

Maryland, North Carolina, and Oklahoma have the most veterans in their state senate, each with 11, followed by North Dakota (10), Indiana and Nebraska (9). California, Maryland, Minnesota, Utah, and Vermont sit at the other end of the scale, each with only one veteran state senator. Of states with more than one veteran senator, however, the majority have both Democratic and Republican senators. Only nine states –South Carolina (7), Idaho (5), Tennessee (5), Wyoming (5), Maine (4), Missouri (4), Pennsylvania (4), Kansas (3), and New Hampshire (3)—have all Republican veteran senators, while Hawaii (2) has the distinction of being the only state whose veteran state senators are both Democrats. Hawaii’s two members in the US House of Representatives, Mark Takai and Tulsi Gabbard, also have military experience, and are also both Democrats.

Military experience is not a guarantor of Republican Party affiliation, in other words. Veterans as well as veterans in public office mirror the nation when it comes to party identification.

Today’s veteran population stands somewhere near 21.3 million, taking up 9% of the adult population and just barely 7% of the U.S. population as a whole. Meanwhile, only around 1% of the population today volunteers to serve in the armed forces — a heavy contrast with the over 12 million who were active duty military personnel in 1945. When veterans made up over 70% of Congress in the 1970s, they were a little less than 14% of the total population, but double the percentage they are today.

Thus while the decline of veterans in public office has been sharper than the decline in the overall veteran population, the decline of veterans either running for or being elected to office is due in large part to the overall decline in the veteran population. Nonetheless, our elected officials are still more likely to have served in the armed forces than the constituencies whom they continue to serve.

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