Between 1977 and 2006, the percentage of members of Congress that had served in the military fell from 75% to 24%. There are 35 combat veterans in the current Congress.
Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa. is the only sitting Congressman to have served in Iraq. Murphy will be joined by four more Iraq vets in the next Congress:
Duncan Hunter (R) defeated Mike Lumpkin (D) in California’s 52nd District
Mike Coffman (R) won Colorado’s 6th District
Patrick Murphy(D) defeated Tom Manion (R) in Pennsylvania’s 8th District
Steve Stivers (R) – Ohio’s 15th District–leading but no projected winner.
John Boccieri (D) won Ohio’s 16th District.
Overall, Iraq veterans did not fair well in the 2008 Congressional elections:
Allen West (R) was defeated in Florida’s 22nd District
Jill Morganthaler (D) was defeated in Illinois’ 6th District
Charlie Summers (R) was defeated in Maine’s 1st District
Nate Bech (R) was defeated in Massachusetts’ 1st District
Ashwin Madia (D) was defeated in Minnesota’s 3rd District
Steve Sarvi (D) was defeated in Minnesota’s 2nd District
Vince Micco (R) was defeated in New Jersey’s 9th District
Lee Zeldin (R) was defeated in New York’s 1st District
Kieran Michael Lalor (R) was defeated in New York’s 19th District
Will Breazeale (R) was defeated in North Carolina’s 7th District
Duane Sand (R) was defeated in North Dakota
William Russell (R) was defeated Pennsylvania’s 12th District
Wendell Craig Williams (R) was defeated in Pennsylvania’s 7th District
