The incoming 116th Congress includes a record number of female veterans, even as the overall number of former service members is on the decline.

Six female veterans will hold office on Capitol Hill after a record number were on the ballot for Election Day. In total, 93 veterans are slated to serve as lawmakers when the next Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.

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The midterm elections saw more than 170 veterans on the ballot, according to the University of San Francisco and Veterans Campaign, a group that prepares veterans for careers in politics.

Of the veterans running for the House, a dozen were women, marking the highest number ever, according to Veterans Campaign Executive Director Seth Lynn.

Sixteen former service members — including three women — won their races and will serve their first terms starting in January, the most new veterans since 2010.

In 2016, 14 new veterans were elected, and a dozen won in both 2014 and 2012, according to Lynn.

“This was the year of women candidates,” Lynn told The Hill. “Women candidates, fair or unfair, are often questioned about whether they’re tough enough for the job, whereas male candidates aren’t.”

With military service, he said, no one questions whether they’re tough enough.

“It never even comes up,” Lynn said.

The new female veteran House members are former Navy pilot Mikie Sherrill Rebecca (Mikie) Michelle SherrillHillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll House passes legislation to boost election security research Lawmakers call for bipartisan push to support scientific research MORE (D-N.J.), former Air Force Capt. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Navy veteran Elaine Luria Elaine Goodman LuriaKate Schroder in Ohio among Democratic challengers squelching GOP hopes for the House Congress must finish work on popular conservation bill before time runs out Virginians wait up to four hours to cast early voting ballots MORE (D-Va.), who beat out another veteran, Rep. Scott Taylor Scott William TaylorBottom line Bottom line Republican Scott Taylor wins Virginia primary, to face Elaine Luria in rematch MORE (R-Va.), a former Navy SEAL.

Two other female veterans, who were not up for reelection this year, are already in the Senate: Sen. Tammy Duckworth Ladda (Tammy) Tammy DuckworthMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Biden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies John Fogerty: 'Confounding' that Trump campaign played 'Fortunate Son' at rally MORE (D-Ill.), who served with the Army in the Iraq War; and Sen. Joni Ernst Joni Kay ErnstThe Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Liberal super PAC launches ads targeting vulnerable GOP senators over SCOTUS fight Romney backs pre-election Supreme Court vote, paving way for McConnell, Trump MORE (R-Iowa), an Army National Guard veteran who was the first female combat veteran ever elected to the Senate.

The Senate race in Arizona between Rep. Martha McSally Martha Elizabeth McSallyThe Hill's Campaign Report: Presidential polls tighten weeks out from Election Day Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' New ABC/WaPost poll finds Trump edging Biden in Arizona, Florida MORE (R), a former Air Force colonel, and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) is still too close to call.

The party breakdown of veterans is still heavily tilted toward the GOP, with 68 Republicans and 25 Democrats.

Army Secretary Mark Esper Mark EsperOvernight Defense: Stopgap spending measure awaits Senate vote | Trump nominates former Nunes aide for intelligence community watchdog | Trump extends ban on racial discrimination training to contractors, military Overnight Defense: Pentagon redirects pandemic funding to defense contractors | US planning for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May | Anti-Trump GOP group puts ads in military papers Official: Pentagon has started 'prudent planning' for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May MORE, a Gulf War veteran, said last week that he was pleased to see so many former service members elected to Congress.

“I think that bodes well for the military writ large,” he told attendees during a forum at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

Notable wins in the House include Republican Dan Crenshaw Daniel CrenshawSecond night of GOP convention outdraws Democrats' event with 19.4 million viewers GOP sticks to convention message amid uproar over Blake shooting The Hill's Convention Report: Mike and Karen Pence set to headline third night of convention MORE (Texas), a former Navy SEAL who served three tours of duty and lost his right eye in an improvised explosive device explosion in Afghanistan, and Democrat Jason CrowJason CrowClark rolls out endorsements in assistant Speaker race Trump-Afghan deal passes key deadline, but peace elusive Cook shifts 20 House districts toward Democrats MORE, an Army veteran from Colorado who unseated longtime Republican Rep. Mike Coffman Michael (Mike) Howard CoffmanColorado mayor says he called protesters 'domestic terrorists' out of 'frustration' Colorado governor directs officials to reexamine death of Elijah McClain in police custody Petition demanding justice for Elijah McClain surpasses 2 million signatures MORE, himself an Army and Marine Corps veteran.

But despite the number of new wins, the total number of veterans in Congress is on the decline. More than 70 percent of lawmakers in the 1970s had served in the military. For the 115th Congress, that number was down to 19 percent, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Lynn said that number has steadily decreased now that less than 1 percent of Americans are currently in the military.

“Forty years ago, pretty much everybody in Congress at the time would have been a veteran, a good three-quarters,” Lynn said, referring to years shortly after the U.S. stopped using the draft for military service.

The Vietnam War marked the first generation of veterans who were less likely to get involved with politics compared to peers who did not serve, a development that played out in Congress, Lynn said.

The total number of veterans in Congress also took a hit as several incumbents were not reelected.

One of those lawmakers was Rep. Steve Russell Steven (Steve) Dane RussellGOP women's group launches six-figure campaign for House candidate Bice Bice wins Oklahoma GOP runoff to face Horn in November House Democrats target Midwestern GOP seats MORE (R-Okla.), a former Army Ranger and member of the House Armed Services Committee.

The Senate is at risk of losing Sen. Bill Nelson Clarence (Bill) William NelsonDemocrats sound alarm on possible election chaos Trump, facing trouble in Florida, goes all in NASA names DC headquarters after agency's first Black female engineer Mary W. Jackson MORE (D-Fla.), who served in the U.S. Army Reserve in the Vietnam War. Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee, is in a tight reelection race that’s headed to an automatic recount.

The recent upswing in new veterans stems in large part from the 9/11 generation becoming more engaged in politics, according to Lynn.

“Even though it’s a small portion of the population — just nine of the freshman veterans are Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans — about 93 percent of veterans coming back say they want to keep serving somehow,” he said.

Lynn said the new class of former service members will help sway policy in national security and defense, in part because “very senior members will very quickly defer to junior members with military experience if they don’t have any themselves, when it comes to those kind of issues.”

He also hopes the new veterans will bring more unity to a largely divided Congress, a sentiment championed by the late Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainThe Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' Cindy McCain: Trump allegedly calling war dead 'losers' was 'pretty much' last straw before Biden endorsement MORE (R-Ariz.), who died of brain cancer in August. In his final years, the former prisoner of war pressed for more veterans in elected office, noting that military service and its common bonds helped boost bipartisanship.

“One of the few things that still trumps partisanship in this city is shared

service,” Lynn said. “We have seen that with some incoming classes, at least initially. As we get more and more of these folks there I think we’ll see more of that happening.”