FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 5, 2014 (Updated on November 17) For additional information contact: Seth Lynn, Executive Director ­ 202­495­1831

Veteran Candidates Charge into the 114th Congress ­ Number of Senate Vets Will Increase, Reversing a 32­Year Decline

In the wake of the 2014 Congressional Midterm Election, Veterans Campaign released its initial findings and analysis of the the races involving Veteran candidates. Veterans Campaign, is the nation’s first organization to offer non­partisan, non­ideological research and training for Veterans who are interested in running for public office.

In addition to the data provided below, Veterans Campaign will present a post­election Campaign 2014 Field Report on December 15, 2014 at 9 a.m. at the Army Navy Club of Washington, DC, located at 901 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC. The Field Report will be made possible by the generous support of Polaris Industries.

Summary of Key Findings

Between 11 and 12 newly­elected Veterans will join the 114th House of Representatives, and 4 will join the Senate. The 2012 election added a comparable 12 Veterans to the House, but not a single new Veteran to the Senate. Just three incumbent Vets lost yesterday: Vance McAllister (R­LA), who has been in Congress less than a year; Bill Enyart (D­IL), who was defeated by fellow Veteran Mike Bost; and Democrat Eni Faleomavaega, the non­voting delegate from American Samoa.1

In the 114th Congress there will be at least 81 Veterans in the House and 21 in the Senate, assuming Dan Sullivan and Martha McSally maintain their leads in Alaska and Arizona. At the beginning of the current session there were 87 in the House and 20 in the Senate. Previously, the number of Senate Veterans had decreased in every election since 1982.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are becoming increasingly influential on Capitol Hill, representing more than half the new Vets elected, several of them having triumphed in long­shot primaries. As it currently stands, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans will account for one quarter of the Senate’s 2014 freshman class.

Women Veterans are becoming a major force in politics, as the election demonstrated. Joni Ernst became the first female Veteran ever elected to the Senate, while Martha McSally is currently ahead by just 336 votes. If McSally maintains her lead, the number of Women Veterans in Congress will double. Put in perspective, before Tammy Duckworth and Tulsi Gabbard were elected in 2012, only three Women Veterans had ever served in Congress.

1 An earlier version of this analysis incorrectly reported a projected Faleomavaega victory. Thank you to Alan Zarembo of the Los Angeles Times for identifying the error. Additionally, two Veterans are currently in runoff elections in Louisiana: Coast Guard Veteran Ralph Abraham (R) in the 5th District and former Governor Edwin Edwards (D) in the 6th District.2 Both districts have been reliably Republican in recent years. Should he win, Edwards, who served in the Navy during World War II, would be the last Veteran of that era in Congress. To do so, however, he would have to overcome the fact that he spent several years in prison after being convicted of multiple crimes, including extortion and racketeering ­ Edwards was released just over three years ago.

Veterans in the 114th Congress (New Veterans are in bold; an asterisk designates an undecided race)

The Senate

Party Service in OIF First Name Last Name State Incumbent Branch of Service Affiliation / OEF Dan Sullivan* AK No Marine Corps Republican OEF Jeff Sessions AL Yes Army Republican Tom Cotton AR No Army Republican OIF/OEF John McCain AZ Yes Navy Republican Richard Blumenthal CT Yes Marine Corps Democrat Tom Carper DE Yes Navy Democrat Bill Nelson FL Yes Army Democrat Johnny Isakson GA Yes Army Republican Joni Ernst IA No Army Republican OIF/OEF Mark Kirk IL Yes Navy Republican Dan Coats IN Yes Army Republican Pat Roberts KS Yes Marine Corps Republican Mitch McConnell KY Yes Army Republican Ed Markey MA Yes Army Democrat Gary Peters MI No Navy Democrat Thad Cochran MS Yes Navy Republican Roger Wicker MS Yes Air Force Republican Jim Inhofe OK Yes Army Republican Jack Reed RI Yes Army Democrat Lindsey Graham SC Yes Air Force Republican Mike Enzi WY Yes Air Force Republican

2 Our pre­election analysis of Veteran nominees included Louisiana incumbents only, as Louisiana does not use a nomination system.

House of Representatives

Branch of Party Service in First Name Last Name State District Incumbent Service Affiliation OIF / OEF Don Young AK N/A Yes Army Republican Rick Crawford AR 1 Yes Army Republican Steve Womack AR 3 Yes Army Republican Martha McSally* AZ 2 No Air Force Republican OIF, OEF Ruben Gallego AZ 7 No Marine Corps Democrat OIF Mike Thompson CA 5 Yes Army Democrat Paul Cook CA 8 Yes Marine Corps Republican Jeff Denham CA 10 Yes Air Force Republican Stephen Knight CA 25 No Army Republican Ted Lieu CA 33 No Air Force Democrat Darrell Issa CA 49 Yes Army Republican Duncan Hunter CA 50 Yes Marine Corps Republican OIF, OEF Mike Coffman CO 6 Yes Marine Corps Republican OIF Ron DeSantis FL 6 Yes Navy Republican OIF Richard Nugent FL 11 Yes Air Force Republican Vern Buchanan FL 16 Yes Air Force Republican Thomas Rooney FL 17 Yes Army Republican Sanford Bishop GA 2 Yes Army Democrat Doug Collins GA 9 Yes Air Force Republican OIF Barry Loudermilk GA 11 No Air Force Republican Mark Takai HI 1 No Army Democrat OIF Tulsi Gabbard HI 2 Yes Army Democrat OIF Bobby L. Rush IL 1 Yes Army Democrat Tammy Duckworth IL 8 Yes Army Democrat OIF Mike Bost IL 12 No Marine Corps Republican John Shimkus IL 15 Yes Army Republican Adam Kinzinger IL 16 Yes Air Force Republican OIF, OEF Larry Bucshon IN 8 Yes Navy Republican Todd C. Young IN 9 Yes Marine Corps Republican Mike Pompeo KS 4 Yes Army Republican Ed Whitfield KY 1 Yes Army Republican Brett Guthrie KY 2 Yes Army Republican Hal Rogers KY 5 Yes Army Republican John Fleming LA 4 Yes Navy Republican Seth Moulton MA 6 No Marine Corps Democrat OIF Andy Harris MD 1 Yes Navy Republican John Conyers MI 13 Yes Army Democrat Tim Walz MN 1 Yes Army Democrat OEF John Kline MN 2 Yes Marine Corps Republican Collin Peterson MN 7 Yes Army Democrat Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan MP N/A Yes Army Democrat Steven Palazzo MS 4 Yes Marine Corps Republican Ryan Zinke MT N/A No Navy Republican OIF G.K. Butterfield NC 1 Yes Army Democrat Walter B. Jones NC 3 Yes Army Republican Bill Pascrell NJ 9 Yes Army Democrat Rodney Frelinghuysen NJ 11 Yes Army Republican Steve Pearce NM 2 Yes Air Force Republican Mark Amodei NV 2 Yes Army Republican Joe Heck NV 3 Yes Army Republican OIF Lee Zeldin NY 1 No Army Republican OIF Peter King NY 2 Yes Army Republican Michael Grimm NY 11 Yes Marine Corps Republican Charles Rangel NY 13 Yes Army Democrat José E. Serrano NY 15 Yes Army Democrat Christopher Gibson NY 19 Yes Army Republican OIF Brad Wenstrup OH 2 Yes Army Republican OIF Bill Johnson OH 6 Yes Air Force Republican John Boehner OH 8 Yes Navy Republican Steve Stivers OH 15 Yes Army Republican OIF Jim Bridenstine OK 1 Yes Navy Republican OEF Steve Russell OK 5 No Army Republican OIF, OEF Peter DeFazio OR 4 Yes Air Force Democrat Scott Perry PA 4 Yes Army Republican OIF Joseph Pitts PA 16 Yes Air Force Republican Tim Murphy PA 18 Yes Navy Republican Mark Sanford SC 1 Yes Air Force Republican Joe Wilson SC 2 Yes Army Republican Phil Roe TN 1 Yes Army Republican John Duncan TN 2 Yes Army Republican Louie Gohmert TX 1 Yes Army Republican Ted Poe TX 2 Yes Air Force Republican Sam Johnson TX 3 Yes Air Force Republican Michael Conaway TX 11 Yes Army Republican Pete Olson TX 22 Yes Navy Republican Brian Babin TX 36 No Air Force Republican Chris Stewart UT 2 Yes Air Force Republican Scott Rigell VA 2 Yes Marine Corps Republican Bobby Scott VA 3 Yes Army Democrat Jim McDermott WA 7 Yes Navy Democrat David Reichert WA 8 Yes Air Force Republican

About Veterans Campaign Veterans Campaign, a program of the National Association for Uniformed Service Members (NAUS), is the nation’s only non­partisan organization offering training for Veterans who are interested in running for public office. We empower and encourage Veterans to continue their legacy of public service as elected officials. Veterans Campaign holds innovative campaign training workshops, lectures, and conducts research, all aimed at directly engaging Veterans in the campaign and electoral process.

About NAUS For almost 50 years, NAUS has been the nations only organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the earned benefits of all uniformed service members, retirees, Veterans, and their families and survivors, while maintaining a strong defense through nonpartisan advocacy. Jointly, NAUS and Veterans Campaign believe that our country’s Veterans are a valuable yet untapped resource of potential national leadership.