Here's How Veterans Running for Congress Did in the Midterms

Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican who won Florida Congressional District 13's seat in Congress, speaks during a Get Out To Vote rally on Oct. 18, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. (Chris O'Meara/AP Photo)

Military.com | By Rebecca Kheel

Published November 09, 2022

Veterans are within striking distance of growing their numbers in Congress after Tuesday's midterm elections.

As of Wednesday morning, at least 73 veterans who were running Tuesday have won, according to race calls by The Associated Press.

Coupled with 12 incumbent senators not up for reelection this cycle who are veterans, that means at least 85 lawmakers with military experience will be serving in the 118th Congress come January.

That's shy of 91 veterans who were serving at the start of the 117th Congress two years ago, but veterans are also ahead in several of the uncalled races, leading to the possibility that there will be more veteran lawmakers than any other Congress in recent history, though the number will still be dwarfed by the height of veterans in Congress after World War II.

The veterans who won include several fresh faces, such as rising Republican star and Air Force veteran Anna Paulina Luna of Florida. Luna was one of two Republican women of color veterans on the ballot for the House this year; the other, Air Force veteran Jennifer-Ruth Green, lost her bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan of Indiana.

Some of the most controversial veterans who ran lost their bids, including Ohio House Republican candidate J.R. Majewski, who the AP reported inflated his Air Force record, and retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, who became a Fox News mainstay after leaving the Army and denied the results of the 2020 election until winning the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary earlier this year. But other controversial veterans pulled out a win, such as Wisconsin Republican Derrick Van Orden, a Navy veteran who was outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection but maintains he never went inside and has not been charged with a crime.

Some prominent incumbent veterans also lost their races, such as Navy veteran and House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. But that seat will still be held by a veteran; Luria was defeated by fellow Navy veteran Jen Kiggans, a Republican Virginia state senator.

More broadly, while Republicans are still projected to win control of the House, Democrats fared better than expected. Election models now show Republicans capturing a very narrow House majority, while Democrats could retain control of the Senate if at least two of the remaining four uncalled toss-up races go their way.

Here's a full list of results for veterans who ran in a major party, as called by The Associated Press:

District	First Name	Last Name	Party	Military Service	Result
AK	Chris	Bye	Libertarian	Army
AL-2	Barry	Moore	Republican (i)	Army	Won
AL-4	Rick	Neighbors	Democratic	Army	Lost
AR-1	Monte	Hodges	Democratic	Army	Lost
AR-1	Rick	Crawford	Republican (i)	Army	Won
AR-3	Steve	Womack	Republican (i)	Army	Won
AR-4	John	White	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
AZ-2	Eli	Crane	Republican	Navy	Won
AZ-3	Ruben	Gallego	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
AZ-4	Kelly	Cooper	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
CA-1	Max	Steiner	Democratic	Army	Lost
CA-3	Kermit	Jones	Democratic	Navy
CA-4	Mike	Thompson	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
CA-5	Mike	Barkley	Democratic	Navy	Lost
CA-6	Tamika	Hamilton	Republican	Air Force	Lost
CA-8	Rudy	Recile	Republican	Army	Lost
CA-10	Michael	Kerr	Green	Army	Lost
CA-19	Jimmy	Panetta	Democratic (i)	Navy	Won
CA-21	Michael	Maher	Republican	Navy	Lost
CA-24	Salud	Carbajal	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
CA-27	Mike	Garcia	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
CA-28	Wes	Hallman	Republican	Air Force	Lost
CA-35	Mike	Cargile	Republican	Army	Lost
CA-36	Ted	Lieu	Democratic (i)	Air Force	Won
CA-36	Joe	Collins	Republican	Navy	Lost
CA-39	Aja	Smith	Republican	Air Force	Lost
CA-44	Paul	Jones	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
CA-45	Jay	Chen	Democratic	Navy	Lost
CA-46	Chris	Gonzalez	Republican	Army	Lost
CA-48	Darrell	Issa	Republican (i)	Army	Won
CO-4	Ike	McCorkle	Democratic	Marine Corps	Lost
CO-5	David	Torres	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
CO-6	Jason	Crow	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
CO-6	Steven	Monahan	Republican	Navy	Lost
CO-7	Erik	Aadland	Republican	Army	Lost
CT-2	Mike	France	Republican	Navy	Lost
FL-2	Neal	Dunn	Republican (i)	Army	Won
FL-6	Mike	Waltz	Republican (i)	Army	Won
FL-7	Cory	Mills	Republican	Army	Won
FL-10	Calvin	Wimbish	Republican	Army	Lost
FL-12	Kim	Walker	Democratic	Army	Lost
FL-13	Anna Paulina	Luna	Republican	Air Force	Won
FL-14	James	Judge	Republican	Coast Guard	Lost
FL-16	Vern	Buchanan	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
FL-17	Greg	Steube	Republican (i)	Army	Won
FL-18	Scott	Franklin	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
FL-21	Corinna	Balderramos Robinson	Democratic	Army	Lost
FL-21	Brian	Mast	Republican (i)	Army	Won
FL-25	Carla	Spalding	Republican	Navy	Lost
FL-28	Robert	Asencio	Democratic	Army	Lost
GA-2	Sanford	Bishop Jr.	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
GA-2	Chris	West	Republican	Air Force	Lost
GA-3	Val	Almonord	Democratic	Army	Lost
GA-4	Jonathan	Chavez	Republican	Air Force	Lost
GA-6	Bob	Christian	Democratic	Army	Lost
GA-6	Rich	McCormick	Republican	Navy	Won
GA-9	Mike	Ford	Democratic	Army	Lost
GA-9	Andrew	Clyde	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
GA-11	Barry	Loudermilk	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
GA-14	Marcus	Flowers	Democratic	Army	Lost
HI-1	Conrad	Kress	Republican	Navy	Lost
HI-2	Joe	Akana	Republican	Air Force	Lost
IA-1	Mariannette	Miller-Meeks	Republican (i)	Army	Won
IA-3	Zach	Nunn	Republican	Air Force	Won
IL-1	Eric	Carlson	Republican	Army	Lost
IL-2	Thomas	Lynch	Republican	Army	Lost
IL-6	Keith	Pekau	Republican	Air Force	Lost
IL-8	Chris	Dargis	Republican	Navy	Lost
IL-12	Homer "Chip"	Markel	Democratic	Navy	Lost
IL-12	Mike	Bost	Republican (i)	Marine Corps	Won
IL-17	Esther Joy	King	Republican	Army	Lost
IN-1	Jennifer-Ruth	Green	Republican	Air Force	Lost
IN-3	Gary	Snyder	Democratic	Army	Lost
IN-3	Jim	Banks	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
IN-4	Jim	Baird	Republican (i)	Army	Won
IN-6	Greg	Pence	Republican (i)	Marine Corps	Won
IN-8	Larry	Bucshon	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
KS-2	Patrick	Schmidt	Democratic	Navy	Lost
KS-4	Bob	Hernandez	Democratic	Army	Lost
KY-2	Brett	Guthrie	Republican (i)	Army	Won
KY-5	Hal	Rogers	Republican (i)	Army	Won
MA-4	Jake	Auchincloss	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
MA-6	Seth	Moulton	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
MA-7	Donnie	Palmer	Republican	Army	Lost
MA-9	Jesse	Brown	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
MD-1	Andy	Harris	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
ME-1	Ed	Thelander	Republican	Navy	Lost
ME-2	Jared	Golden	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
MI-1	Jack	Bergman	Republican (i)	Marine Corps	Won
MI-4	Joseph	Alfonso	Democratic	Marine Corps	Lost
MI-7	Tom	Barrett	Republican	Army	Lost
MI-10	John	James	Republican	Army	Won
MI-11	Mark	Ambrose	Republican	Army	Lost
MI-12	Steven	Elliot	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
MN-2	Tyler	Kistner	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
MN-3	Tom	Weiler	Republican	Navy	Lost
MO-4	Jack	Truman	Democratic	Army	Lost
MO-5	Jacob	Turk	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
MO-6	Henry	Martin	Democratic	Army	Lost
MS-1	Trent	Kelly	Republican (i)	Army	Won
MS-2	Brian	Flowers	Republican	Navy	Lost
MS-3	Shuwaski	Young	Democratic	Army	Lost
MT-1	Ryan	Zinke	Republican	Navy	Won
NC-1	Don	Davis	Democratic	Air Force	Won
NC-6	Christian	Castelli	Republican	Army	Lost
NC-8	Scott	Huffman	Democratic	Navy	Lost
NC-9	Ben	Clark	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
NC-10	Pam	Genant	Democratic	Army	Lost
NC-14	Patrick	Harrigan	Republican	Army	Lost
NC-14	Jeff	Jackson	Democratic	Army	Won
NE-2	Don	Bacon	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
NJ-9	Bill	Pascrell	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
NJ-9	Billy	Prempeh	Republican	Air Force	Lost
NJ-11	Mikie	Sherrill	Democratic (i)	Navy	Won
NV-1	Mark	Robertson	Republican	Army	Lost
NV-2	Mark	Amodei	Republican (i)	Army	Won
NV-4	Sam	Peters	Republican	Air Force	Lost
NY-1	Nick	LaLota	Republican	Navy	Won
NY-2	Jackie	Gordon	Democratic	Army	Lost
NY-6	Tom	Zmich	Republican	Army	Lost
NY-11	Max	Rose	Democratic	Army	Lost
NY-12	Mike	Zumbluskas	Republican	Army	Lost
NY-18	Colin	Schmitt	Republican	Army	Lost
NY-18	Pat	Ryan	Democratic	Army	Won
NY-22	Francis	Conole	Democratic	Navy	Lost
NY-22	Brandon	Williams	Republican	Navy	Won
NY-23	Max	Della Pia	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
NY-24	Steve	Holden	Democratic	Army	Lost
NY-26	Steve	Sams	Republican	Army	Lost
OH-2	Brad	Wenstrup	Republican (i)	Army	Won
OH-6	Bill	Johnson	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
OH-7	Max	Miller	Republican	Marine Corps	Won
OH-8	Warren	Davidson	Republican (i)	Army	Won
OH-9	J.R.	Majewski	Republican	Air Force	Lost
OH-10	David	Esrati	Democratic	Army	Lost
OH-11	Eric	Brewer	Republican	Air Force	Lost
OH-14	Matt	Kilboy	Democratic	Navy	Lost
OH-15	Mike	Carey	Republican (i)	Army	Won
OK-3	Jeremiah	Ross	Democratic	Army	Lost
OR-1	Chris	Mann	Republican	Army	Lost
OR-2	Joe	Yetter	Democratic	Army	Lost
OR-4	Alek	Skarlatos	Republican	Air Force	Lost
PA-1	Ashley	Ehasz	Democratic	Army	Lost
PA-5	Dave	Galluch	Republican	Navy	Lost
PA-6	Chrissy	Houlahan	Democratic (i)	Air Force	Won
PA-10	Scott	Perry	Republican (i)	Army	Won
PA-14	Guy	Reschenthaler	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
PA-17	Chris	Deluzio	Democratic	Navy	Won
SC-2	Joe	Wilson	Republican (i)	Army	Won
SC-4	William	Timmons	Republican (i)	Army	Won
SC-7	Daryl	Scott	Democratic	Army	Lost
TN-7	Mark	Green	Republican (i)	Army	Won
TX-2	Dan	Crenshaw	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
TX-3	Keith	Self	Republican	Army	Won
TX-4	Pat	Fallon	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
TX-6	Jake	Ellzey	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
TX-8	Morgan	Luttrell	Republican	Navy	Won
TX-9	Jimmy	Leon	Republican	Army	Lost
TX-11	August	Pfluger	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
TX-13	Ronny	Jackson	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
TX-20	Kyle	Sinclair	Republican	Army	Lost
TX-22	Troy	Nehls	Republican (i)	Army	Won
TX-23	John	Lira	Democratic	Marine Corps	Lost
TX-23	Tony	Gonzales	Republican (i)	Navy	Won
TX-35	Dan	McQueen	Republican	Navy	Lost
TX-36	Brian	Babin	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
TX-38	Wesley	Hunt	Republican	Army	Won
UT-2	Chris	Stewart	Republican (i)	Air Force	Won
UT-3	Glenn	Wright	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
VA-1	Herb	Jones	Democratic	Army	Lost
VA-2	Elaine	Luria	Democratic (i)	Navy	Lost
VA-2	Jen	Kiggans	Republican	Navy	Won
VA-3	Bobby	Scott	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
VA-3	Terry	Namkung	Republican	Air Force	Lost
VA-4	Leon	Benjamin	Republican	Navy	Lost
VA-10	Hung	Cao	Republican	Navy	Lost
VA-11	Jim	Myles	Republican	Air Force	Lost
VT	Liam	Madden	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
WA-1	Vincent	Cavaleri	Republican	Army	Lost
WA-2	Dan	Matthews	Republican	Air Force	Lost
WA-3	Joe	Kent	Republican	Army	Lost
WA-10	Keith	Swank	Republican	Army	Lost
WI-3	Derrick	Van Orden	Republican	Navy	Won
WI-5	Scott	Fitzgerald	Republican (i)	Army	Won
WI-8	Mike	Gallagher	Republican (i)	Marine Corps	Won
AZ-Senate	Mark	Kelly	Democratic (i)	Navy	Won
CT-Senate	Richard	Blumenthal	Democratic (i)	Marine Corps	Won
IL-Senate	Tammy	Duckworth	Democratic (i)	Army	Won
IN-Senate	Thomas	McDermott Jr.	Democratic	Navy	Lost
IN-Senate	Todd	Young	Republican (i)	Marine Corps	Won
NH-Senate	Don	Bolduc	Republican	Army	Lost
NV-Senate	Adam	Laxalt	Republican	Navy	Lost
SD-Senate	Brian	Bengs	Democratic	Air Force	Lost
VT-Senate	Gerald	Malloy	Republican	Army	Lost
HI-Senate	Bob	McDermott	Republican	Marine Corps	Lost
IA-Senate	Michael	Franken	Democratic	Navy	Lost
OH-Senate	J.D.	Vance	Republican	Marine Corps	Won

* Blank spaces represent races that have not been called by the Associated Press as of publishing time.

Editor's Note: This article will be updated as more races are called.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Story Continues

Related Topics: Military Headlines Congress Elections Veterans

Rebecca Kheel

Rebecca Kheel specializes in covering Congress for Military.com, holding lawmakers accountable for how their decisions affect military personnel and veterans. She has covered the intersection of Congress and the military for nearly a decade, previously working as a defense reporter at The Hill. Kheel’s award-winning work has been recognized with the 2022 Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Honorable Mention for National Defense Reporting and the 2023 Joe Galloway Award from Military Reporters & Editors, among other honors. Read Full Bio

© Copyright 2024 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here.