Memorial Day is typically left untarnished by politics but the president’s tweet Monday morning, which suggested that fallen U.S. troops would be “very happy” with his administration’s performance, quickly brought Washington into the mix.
Twitter backlash aside, and in some cases because of it, this Memorial Day brings more service members seeking office in the nation’s capital than in years past. Over 300 former service members are running or have run for Congress in this year’s midterms, according to With Honor, a “cross-partisan organization” that supports veterans.
And the surge comes at a critical juncture for veterans on Capitol Hill.
Fewer veterans served in Congress last year than previous years, making up just 20 percent of the Senate and 19 percent of the House in 2017, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Comparatively, veterans made up 81 percent of the Senate and 75 percent of the House 40 years ago, according to Pew.
Today, veterans like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a former Navy commander and prisoner of war, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was downed in Iraq, and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who also lost limbs in combat while serving in Afghanistan, are among the over 100 veterans across both chambers who’ve entered a different kind of service to the nation, on Capitol Hill.
Today we honor the Americans who sacrificed everything to secure the blessings of liberty. Family and friends to some, heroes to all – who lived, fought and died for the safety and future of a great and good nation. God bless…
