Washington, D.C. – With Honor Action fights polarization in Congress by helping to elect and support principled veterans. This cycle, 495 veterans have taken up the call to serve their country again by running for Congress. This includes 213 post 9-11 veterans.
While this is a significant number of candidates, the absolute number represents a decline from last election cycle, where 744 ran for Congress, including 475 post 9-11 veterans. That election cycle, 86 veterans won the general election and joined the 118th Congress, 80 in the House, and 6 in the Senate . With Honor Action has tracked the total number and success of veteran candidates since its founding in 2017, starting with the 2018 cycle. More information can be found in the chart below.
With Honor Action assesses that fewer veterans have run this election cycle for a number of reasons, which include rising costs to run for office, decline of public respect for serving in elected office, and a decline in the percentage of veterans in the U.S. population. Currently, there are 16 million Americans veterans as compared to 18 million in 2018.
With Honor’s political action committee’s have a rigorous endorsement process which starts with assessing a candidate’s viability and commitment to the With Honor pledge. This cycle, With Honor endorsed 8.2% of veterans who ran for Congress, the list can be found on the With Honor Fund II website here.
