When House Speaker John Boehner came to Congress in 1991, he was one of 21 members of the Ohio congressional delegation — 23 if you count the state’s two senators.

When Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., is sworn in next year, that group will have shrunk by five. And seven of those members — nearly half — will have served for fewer than four years in Congress.

Ohio’s congressional delegation — thanks to population changes — is shrinking. The question is, is its clout?

On one hand, the vast majority of the state’s lawmakers are relatively new — only six of the delegation’s House members have served more than a decade in Congress.

On the other, the state still has the highest-ranking Republican in the country in its delegation — that’s nothing to scoff about.

“You’ve got the big dog,” said Bruce Cuthbertson, a former aide to Rep. Pat Tiberi, referring to Boehner. “That’s all you need to know.”

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, received a boost last week when he was named the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Tactical Air and Land subcommittee — one of the more key subcommittees and one with jurisdiction over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Lima Tank Plant. Turner was first elected to Congress in 2002.

As for the rest of the delegation: Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, is finishing his term as chair of the Republican Study Committee which includes more than 160 conservative House members. Jordan currently serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and House Judiciary Committee.

Tiberi, R-Genoa Twp., is a senior member on the House Ways and Means Committee and the chairman of a key subcommittee on taxes. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, is chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, sits on the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. Starting in January, Chabot’s district includes all of Warren and part of Hamilton counties.

For the first time in Ohio history, there are two black members of the state delegation. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland, was recently tapped to head the Congressional Black Caucus. In November, Joyce Beatty, a former Ohio State University administrator and state representative, won in the new 3rd Congressional District representing the Columbus area.

Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo and Tim Ryan, D-Niles, will serve on the House Appropriations Committee next year as will incoming Rep. David Joyce, R-Russell Twp. They will replace Reps. Steve LaTourette and Steve Austria, both members of that committee who will leave Congress at the end of this term. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, was recently placed on the House Budget Committee.

Ohio will lose two seats in the upcoming congress — one was held by Austria and the other by Dennis Kucinich. Austria represents the current 7th District which includes Greene, Clark and several other counties, but lost his seat due to redistricting. Greene County was added to the new 10th District, which Turner will represent and Clark County was added to Boehner’s district.

“Our delegation is smaller, but it’s well-placed,” said former Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield. “If everyone does their jobs, Ohio will flourish in Congress.”

Part of the loss of power is sheer numbers: As Ohio grows slower than other states, it also loses members of Congress. But Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that can change. Some congressional delegations have shrunk only to grow again 10 years later. “You’d much rather have a growing delegation than a shrinking one,” he said. “But of course that can change every 10 years. This isn’t a one-way trip, necessarily.”

However, the last time Ohio saw the delegation grow was in 1962, when it went from 25 to 26 members. Next year, Ohio will have 18 members including its two senators. That is the smallest delegation Ohio has had since the 1820s.

“You have to acknowledge, yeah, you lose clout,” said Tiberi, who was one of 19 House members from Ohio sworn in back in 2001. “Having said that, we have the Speaker of the House — that’s unbelievable. You start to pinch yourself. It’s pretty darned significant.”

Tiberi said what may matter more is not the seniority, but how well the delegation works together. He said that the delegation has been a relatively united front in pushing for a uranium enrichment plant in Piketon — about 70 miles southeast of Dayton — and fought together on behalf of the state’s endangered Guard and Reserve air bases.

“The Speaker of the House is from Ohio, Sen. Portman and I have a good working relationship,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who himself got a boost this month when he was named to the Senate Finance Committee. “Of course you want people on the right committee slots that have seniority there. Still we have a good delegation, a good mix.”

Turnover has been another factor: Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, Renacci, Gibbs and Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, all began their terms in 2010. Three new freshmen — Beatty, D-Columbus, Joyce and Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati, will begin their first terms in January.

Sabto said Ohio’s relatively green delegation is reflective of Congress as a whole.

“Certainly think about the last few years — there was a lot of turnover in 2006, a lot of turnover in 2008, a lot in 2010, less in 2012, but still substantial,” he said. “You had four pretty big years of turnover.”

But Sabato said the size of the delegation may be irrelevant — Ohio’s got the speaker, after all.

“I think most states would trade a good bit of their seniority in order to have the speaker,” he said. “Having the Speaker makes up for a lot of retirements and defeats.”