Historic Milestone as Record Number of Women Veterans Elected to Congress in 2024

The forthcoming 2024 session of Congress will be a historic milestone, as it will see the highest number of women veterans elected to the House and Senate. In this election cycle, at least eight female veterans have secured their seats. This number may rise if Iowa Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks maintains her lead in her close re-election bid. This extraordinary sum doubles the number of women veterans in Congress from 2018, when there were only four among the 535 voting members.

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Sheri Biggs, a Republican from South Carolina, and Maggie Goodlander, a Democrat from New Hampshire, comprise the newly elected House members. During Operation Freedom's Sentinel, Biggs, a former director of the Air National Guard medical staff and intensive care unit nurse, participated in numerous combat missions in Afghanistan. Goodlander, who was a member of the Navy Reserve from 2011 to 2022, also served as counsel during the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump and in the Justice Department of President Joe Biden.

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Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), two incumbent female senators with military experience, were not eligible for re-election this year. In the interim, four incumbent House members were re-elected: Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ).

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Despite the fact that numerous races featuring veteran candidates are still undecided, 79 veterans have already been elected this cycle, joining 14 Senate incumbents who did not face elections this year. Nevertheless, it is widely expected that Ohio Republican JD Vance, a distinguished veteran, will relinquish his Senate seat upon his election as vice president.

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