OpenSecrets notes some important limitations to the data:[5]. Like several other lawmakers on this list, Blumenthal married into his vast fortune. When the members who lost money during this time period are removed from the calculation,[35] the growth in wealth among the "wealth gainers" stands out. This report compared average and median data, and in both cases the growth of congressional net worth significantly outpaced that of the American citizen. Comenity Direct Savings and CDs: Safe Places To Make the Most of . For the purpose of our comparison to the median American citizen data below, the median congressional increase was 1.55 percent per year. Hollingsworth's wealth primarily comes from his involvement with Hollingsworth Capital Partners, a Tennessee group that builds and markets industrial facilities in 17 states, according to his financial disclosure. See the sources for this fact-check. Compare the gains in net worth experienced by congressional incumbents with what happened to the net worth of the people they represent. Rep. Denny Heck is in his fourth term serving the 10th District of Washington state, which includes the state capital of Olympia. Members of the United States Congress and candidates for Congress are required to file an annual Personal Financial Disclosure (PFD) on or before May 15 of every year. He also owns several rental properties around the University of Georgia campus. He got his start in banking as a bookkeeper at First Western Bank & Trust in Minot, which was bought by his father. OpenSecrets.org (The Center for Responsive Politics), a self-proclaimed "nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy," tracks the financial information, and posts it publicly under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. As compared to the yearly average gains, the total average gains percentage change looks at the total change between the first year data is available for each member[36] and the 2012 data. He serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Rep. Nita M. Lowey has served in Congress since 1989, and currently represents New York's 17th District located in southern New York State, just north of New York City. 618 members are included in the congressional data, compared to the millions sampled in the census data. 72. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Today, much of Warner's fortune estimated at over $90 million is held in blind trusts. Earning an annual salary of roughly $174,000 certainly contributes toward their wealth, but many of these lawmakers were rich to being with. Much of his $27 million fortune came from a career as an economist and intellectual property lawyer. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer is a six-term congressman from Missouri who operates a 160-acre farm and also has been in banking and insurance. Estimated wealth is at least $100 million in 2012 dollars, for all the people listed here. The Courage to Change political action committee the congresswoman launched last year to back progressive candidates challenging incumbent Democratsspent about $335,000 out of the $842,000 it raised, according to the FEC. Financial disclosures that members of Congress are required to file show that it didnt. In a post shared more than 14,000 times, a Facebook user claims that Ocasio-Cortez was broke when she was first elected to Congress in 2018 but now has anet worth of more than $1 million. Peters reported two liabilities worth at least $30,000 in total, for "revolving credit.". It's not possible to know the precise net worth of members of Congress as they are only required to provide a range of values in their financial disclosures and not specific dollar amounts. After that report, the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org ranked Ocasio-Cortez as one of the poorest members of Congress, where more than half of members have a net worth of at least $1 million. [37], The ten current senators and representatives listed here experienced the greatest declines in net worth (by percentage) from 2004-2012.[37]. Rep. David B. McKinley of West Virginia. if(document.getElementsByClassName("reference").length==0) if(document.getElementById('Footnotes')!==null) document.getElementById('Footnotes').parentNode.style.display = 'none'; Communications: Alison Graves Carley Allensworth Abigail Campbell Sarah Groat Erica Shumaker Caitlin Vanden Boom Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Rep. Young passed away on October 18, 2013. In 1997 Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies, a cloud-based customer service program, which was bought for over $1 billion by Oracle Corp in 2012. Pingree sold the business in 1993 and now co-owns a bed & breakfast and restaurant in North Haven. Census figures were unavailable for the raw, excluding home equity figure -- this figure is an estimate calculated by applying the 2005 ratio of net worth excluding home equity to the net worth figure available for 2004 (which included home equity). Rosen worked for companies such as Citibank and Southwest Gas Company before she was elected to Congress. She reported at least $165,000 in liabilities in the form of credit-card debt through various banks. The bulk of Romney's wealth derives from his success at Bain Capital, a private-equity investment firm where he rose to CEO. Before he was a senator, Risch used his income from his private attorney practice to buy large swaths of farming and ranching land in the southwestern part of the state. Allen & Associates, which operates in six states and is headquartered in Augusta, which is within the district Allen represents. Pelosi, the speaker of the House, reported personal wealth spread out among property holdings, mutual funds, and stocks owned by her husband. The work paid $17,000 a year, or about $130,000 in today's dollars. First-term Sen. David Perdue of Georgia earned his wealth as a financial turnaround specialist for struggling companies. Kennedy's fortune comes from old family money specifically that of his great-grandfather, who was a businessman, and his great-great-grandfather, who was a co-founder of Standard Oil. Today, Sensenbrenner's stock portfolio includes holdings in more than three dozen companies, including Pfizer, Apple, AT&T, and Verizon. know the precise net worth of members of Congress, SCOTUS Now Just Another Congressional Committee, Secret Chinese Police Stations in Europe Are 'Tip of the Iceberg', Trump's Attorney Just Blew Carroll Rape Case, King Charles Says Royals Require 'Acting Ability', Ukraine Will Regain 'Significant Territory' From Russia, Florida GOP Paves the Way to Help Ron DeSantis Challenge Trump. That data, currently available for the years 2004 to 2010, is listed in part below in the section Individual data. Before the success he found in Florida, Buchanan founded American Speedy Printing in Michigan in the mid-1970s, growing the business to 730 locations across 44 states before declaring bankruptcy. OpenSecrets combines all assets and liability to form a total potential range of values, and then provides an average value as the best guess of each individual's net worth.[5]. Percentage increase is not meaningful for this candidate as the initial average net worth is less than or equal to zero. Trone's wealth is divvied up among mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and ownership of several shops across the country specializing in wine, beer, and spirits: Total Wine & More. He was the first former president to monetize his time in the office, according to The Washington Post. Sen. John Hoeven built his wealth by working in banking in North Dakota. McCaul is thought to be the second-richest person in Congress, though none of the assets or holdings reported in his 65-page financial disclosure were his alone, belonging to his wife or dependent children. Researchers used data provided by OpenSecrets.org to calculate the change in net worth of each congressional incumbent from either 2004 or the year he or she was first elected, if that year was after 2004.[6]. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, represents California's 12th District, which includes San Francisco. Both the average and median for congressional and American citizen net worth growth are provided below. The Census Bureau, the source of the average citizen data, breaks down net worth into wealth categories. Kennedy has served Massachusetts' 4th District since 2013. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Bennet would be elected one year later. Yarmuth founded several publications, including Louisville Today, and the Louisville Eccentric Observer Weekly (LEO). Norman was elected to Congress in a special election in 2017 after President Donald Trump appointed his predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget. For example, Sen. John McCain would have his net worth percentage divided by eight (2004-2012), since those are the years for which data is available for his net worth. Prior to his first term, the Johnson campaign announced that he had liquidated all of his stocks, bonds, and mutual funds to avoid any conflict of interests. One of Norman's IRA's is worth at least $5 million. Property (such as personal residences) and non-income producing investments are not required to be reported under ethics laws. Changes in Net Worth of U.S. If a member gains, expect the gain to be large. Those in Congress who held assets above the median net worth of $1 million in 2012 also saw a hefty annual percentage increase. The ten current senators and representatives listed below experienced the highest overall net worth gains (by percentage) from 2004-2012. U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers remarks from the House Chambers of the U.S. Capitol Building on November 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. "It's yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill," she said. The second-term senator and former governor returned to practicing law in 2003 after he finished his term as governor. Obernolte, who joined Congress in 2019, also reported several investments worth millions in Vanguard tax-managed mutual funds. Though Scheider founded a consulting firm, much of his wealth comes from his wife, Julie Schneider, whose family started what was the largest privately owned insurance brokerage in Chicago. Her family also owns farm equipment company Heartland Tractor. These estimates assume no change in net worth between 2011 and 2012. Paul also has invested in Apple, Disney, Comcast, and Facebook. This Ballotpedia article is in need of updates. 53. 76. In August 2019, Isakson announced he would resign from his senate seat at the end of the year due to health problems. Help us provide information on American politics. McConnell was elected Senate majority leader by Republicans in 2014. net worth in 2018: $19,145,013 > Assumed office: Jan. 3, 1987 > Current term ends: 2023 > Approval . Repiblican Roger Williams represents the 25th District in Texas a strip of land that extends from Fort Worth down to Austin. He is currently serving his second term as senator from Colorado. The congressman owns an extensive array of real property, mutual funds, and several individual retirement accounts. The main source of Kelly's wealth comes from the eponymous Mike Kelly Chevrolet Cadillac dealership, which he bought from his father and eventually expanded to include a Kia and Hyundai dealership. Blumenthal's only liability listed in his financial filings was a 30-year mortgage on his home that his wife took out in 2011. Currently, the top industrial contributors to Williams's campaign are oil and gas and automotive. The bulk of his fortune is from his wife, Linda, the daughter of the founder of the media giant iHeartRadio. From their 2009 required candidacy filing to 2012. Lisa Blunt Rochester has represented the state of Delaware since going to Capitol Hill in 2017. Democrat Rosa DeLauro has represented Connecticut's 3rd District which covers the central part of the state along the coast since 1991. The year each House member or senators current term ends came from nonprofit political encyclopedia Ballotpedia. Pelosi's husband had holdings in corporations such as Slack, Tesla, Disney, Visa, Salesforce, PayPal, Alphabet, Facebook, and Netflix companies that together spend tens of millions of dollars each year lobbying the federal government. Republican Earl Carter has represented Georgia's 1st District since taking office in 2015. The Ohio legislator was elected to the Senate eight years ago after serving in the house from 1993 to 2015. Because the study focuses on percentage increases, a gap in the study it is difficult to determine a meaningful percentage for a member who had a starting net worth in the negatives but increased to a positive net worth by 2012. Sen. Thom Tillis spent his 22-year private-sector career in technology and management consulting before he entered Congress in 2015. Curtis was the former mayor of Provo, Utah, and a small business owner. McCaul, who represents Texas's 5th District, amassed much of his wealth through his marriage to Linda McCaul, whose father founded Clear Channel Communications. Rep. Susan W. Brooks is serving her fourth term in Congress. Dingell worked at General Motors for more than 30 years where she was president of the GM Foundation as well as a senior executive responsible for public affairs. Help us provide information on American politics. The congressman reported $4 million in liabilities in the forms of lines of credit, mortgages, notes payable, and a loan. He rejoined Congress in 2021. By then, she reported that the same three accounts held between $2,003 and $31,000 and that her student loan debt remained the same at between $15,001 and $50,000. One of these categories is "equity in own home," but Ballotpedia did not factor the average citizen's home equity into this figure because the Congressional net worth does not require members to report property (including personal residences) that is not used for investment purposes. Rep. John Curtis is serving his first full term as a congressman from Utah. McKinley founded the architectural and engineering company McKinley & Associates. Maloney's assets include a townhouse in the Upper East Side, a six-unit rental property in Virginia Beach, and a partial stake in a rental property in Jamaica. The first-term Montana senator won by almost 18 points in 2014 after serving one term in the House of Representatives. In the earliest days of American independence, members of the federal government were not paid a salary as most of them were wealthy to begin with. Every year members of congress are required by law to disclose certain financial information regarding personal assets and liabilities. Dodgett has a stake of at least half a million on the Whole Foods grocery store chain, which is headquartered in Austin, a city that falls partially with the district he represents. However, there were substantial increases in wealth of the members who fell into this category. Scott, who assumed office in 2019, cemented his No. For instance, if three assets are listed at a value range of $1,001-$15,000, the total range of assets would be listed as a minimum of $3,003 (3 X $1,001) and a maximum value would be $45,000 (3 X $15,000). Buchanan earned much of his fortune through car dealerships and through his involvement in charter jet and yacht leasing. Warner made much of his wealth as a venture capitalist. Rose, who joined Congress in 2019, reported an ownership stake in several residential buildings across the country. Chao also collected a salary during her tenure on the boards of Wells Fargo and News Corp. Rep. Mike Kelly was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. First elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1978, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is currently the second longest serving member of the House of Representatives. Two Facebook users who shared the post did not respond to requests for comment. This includes her salary as an elected official and income from her business ventures. Rep. Steve Cohen has served six terms as the congressman from Tennessee's 9th District, which is in the southwest corner of the state. He is the founder of the law firm of V. Gonzalez & Associates. Student volunteers wanted! Do you have a question about Nancy Pelosi? subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. With a total estimated net worth just shy of $11 million, Lowey is one of only a handful of women to rank among the 25 richest legislators. She also raised about $5 million in February for Texans hit by a winter storm that left millions in the state without power, CNN reported. Lowey is the current chair of the Committee on Appropriations. Wyden's wife, Nancy Wyden, owns the famous Strand Bookstore in New York City. Members of Congress are way wealthier than average Americans. Because many members went from a negative net worth to a positive net worth during the years calculated, this figure is an important figure because the total asset increase can figure in all members' asset growth, including the members who did not have a meaningful percentage change due to increasing from a negative to a positive net worth. In the 116th Congress, public disclosures had Florida's Rick Scott in first place with a net worth of around $300 million. Upton also reported having at least $1 million in Pepsi stock. Data on the net worth of members of Congress came from the 2018 Wealth of Congress report from CQ Roll Call, an intelligence and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Net worth figures are based on recent financial filings and are representative of the time that each House member or senator was beginning his or her term in the 115th Congress. Much of Upton's wealth is old family money, as his paternal grandfather patented an early iteration of the modern electric washing machine and founded a company that is now home appliance giant Whirlpool. For a direct comparison to each individual member's figures (as shown on his or her Ballotpedia profile), the yearly change will correspond with each member's average yearly change. Other notable stocks owned by Jacobs includes more than $100,000 invested in stocks of Apple, Microsoft, and Mastercard. The change in net worth information has also been added to each of Ballotpedia's profiles of the 535 congressional incumbents. This study includes figures for the 113th Congress' freshman members because despite their terms beginning in 2012 they were required to filed the PFD during their candidacy in 2011. This figure represents the total percentage growth from either 2004 (if the member entered office in 2004 or earlier) or his or her first year in office (as noted in the chart below).