Members of the Oregon House of Representatives in session on Jan. 9, 2023. (AP)
The number of state lawmakers with military experience dropped sharply in the past two years, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Veterans, current or former reservists, and National Guard members held 748 seats in the 50 state and five territorial legislatures in the United States.
That’s slightly more than 10% of the 7,383 legislators serving nationwide, the group said.
The number dropped sharply in two years. The group counted 911 state lawmakers with military experience following the 2020 election.
Jim Reed, an NCSL spokesman, said Thursday that the decline was caused by demographics and term-limit laws.
“There are simply fewer veterans in the general population year to year,” he said.
NCSL said the share of the U.
S. population with military experience declined from 18% in 1980 to 6% in 2022.
Accelerating the change is term limits, which force out longer-serving lawmakers who are more likely to have military experience.
“Though other reasons may also contribute to this decline such as resignations or deaths, the number of veterans serving in legislatures in 12 of the 16 term-limited states fell by a total of 45, accounting for 27% of the decline,” Reed said.
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