The House Becomes A Home: Lifetime Politicians In The House Of Representatives
By: The Captive American Staff
An independent study by the Captive American shows that our leaders in Congress bring new meaning to the words “career politician.” The average member of the House of Representatives has spent more than half of his or her adult life in political office.
While the mean length of stay in the House is more than a decade, astounding in itself, the Captive American study confirms the ugly truth many of us have suspected all along: the only real experience the majority of our leaders bring to Washington with them is a lifetime spent campaigning for one government job after another.
It wasn’t always this way. Public service used to be a temporary occupation in America. Until the middle of the 20th century, our government was run by a constantly shifting coalition of citizen representatives, not perennial politicians. Business and community leaders would take leave of their careers to serve in elected office for a while before returning to their real jobs. This high turnover in government kept new blood and new ideas cycling through the Capitol, and our lawmakers brought real world experience with them to Washington. But all that’s gone now. For most of our so-called leaders, politics is their life work.
The Captive American study includes the biographical records of every member of the new House of Representatives, and the results are dispiriting. Simply put, several hundred glad-handing, politicking, empty suits are running our government.
Making Themselves at Home in the House
Before 1901, the average length of service in the House of Representatives never rose above two terms.[1] A little over a century later, politicians have not only broken the two term threshold, they’ve nearly tripled it.
The average tenure in the upcoming 111th House is over five terms, or 10.4 years. Remove the 50 newly elected members from the calculation and the number jumps to almost six terms, or 11.75 years. All told, the 382 returning House members have spent an average of almost one-third of their adult lives in their current offices.
Some other figures from the study:
- 63 House members have spent 20 or more years, or ten terms, in Congress.
- 18 have logged 30 or more years, or fifteen terms, of service.
- 64 members have spent at least half of their adult lives in Congress.
- 168 have spent at least one-third of their adult lives in Congress.
Clawing Up the Political Ladder
But let’s not fool ourselves. Congress is not the first stop on the government train for most House members. Four out of five representatives served in at least one other elected or appointed post before coming to Washington. Many start in local politics, on school boards or city councils. The next step is often a county commission, then a state assembly or state senate seat.
To think, a whopping fifty House members spent two decades or more in public office before they came to Capitol Hill–enough time to raise from birth a couple of their very own voters! Freshman Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) tops all other lawmakers in non-congressional service. Before his election to the House this year, the 59 year old logged a total of 32 years in three different state and local offices-for a total of 84 percent of his adult life.
Tonko’s lifetime hold on public office is not unusual:
- 54 House members have spent more than 80 percent of their lives in local, state, and federal government.
- 150 members have been in elected or appointed office for more than two-thirds of their adult lives.
- The average congressional representative has spent more than half of his or her grown life in one office or another.
On average, returning legislators in the 111th House logged almost 9 years in other elected or appointed offices before joining Congress. This trend does not show any sign of changing. Newly elected lawmakers averaged the same number of years in previous government service.
Political Lifers
Some House members bring real world experience with them to Congress. Several have run their own businesses. Others are physicians or academics. But for many, politics is almost all they know.
Six current representatives have never held a job besides elected office. Another 26 members have no previous job experience except assisting other politicians and elected officials. And over one hundred members worked as government or campaign staffers prior to becoming politicians themselves.
Addendum: Our Not-So-Fresh Freshmen
Among the 50 “freshmen” House members, 38 have served in previous government positions, spending an average of 12.5 years, or 43 percent of their adult lives, in government prior to coming to Capitol Hill. Four have spent more than three-quarters of their adult lives in elected office. Eight have logged at least two-decades of public service.
Some examples from the newly elected members:
- In the 1980s and 90s, Republican Cynthia Lummis served in the Wyoming State House for twelve years and the state Senate for two years. She then ran the state’s Department of Lands and Investments for two years before taking over as state Treasurer in 1998. All told, the 54 year old Lummis has already worked 28 years in elected or appointed office, almost 85 percent of her adult life. And she’s just getting started in Washington.
- Prior to winning election to the House this Fall, Maine Democrat Chellie Pingree served on her local planning board, board of assessors and school board before moving into the State Senate for eight years. The 53 year old has held public office for 20 years in all, or 62.5 percent of her adult life.
- Republican Bill Posey sat on a city council for ten years, moved up to the Florida State House for eight, then the Florida Senate for another eight. All told, that gives him 26 years of elected office experience before he serves a single day in the House of Representatives.
Who Represents You?
We urge our readers to get to know their own congressional representatives, as well as other members of our government. You can view the data we gathered here.*
Or you can take advantage of the resources we used to compile our information:
- Project Vote Smart has an extensive collection of biographical information for nearly every politician in the country.
- CQ Politics offers biographies of every new member of Congress, as well as a searchable database of incumbents.
- The House of Representatives website provides a district-by-district list of its members, with links to their individual websites.
*Deciphering the numbers:
Our chart is ordered alphabetically by state and numerically by congressional district. It includes (in order):
1: Member name; 2: party; 3: district; 4: age; 5: years spent in Congress; 6: total years spent in government and political office; 7: percentage of their adult (21+) life they’ve spent in Congress; 8: percentage of their adult life they’ve spent in government; 9: number of offices held before coming to Congress; 10: whether they worked as a political staffer before becoming politicians; 11-22: the kinds of previous offices they held and for how long; and, finally 22-23: their previous occupation(s) besides elected or appointed office, if any.
Note: This post and our spreadsheet have been updated to reflect newly certified election results. It does not yet include several undecided races.
[1] “Restoring ‘The University in Rotation’: An Essay in Defense of Term Limitation” by Mark Petracca in The Politics and Law of Term Limits, Edward H Crane and Roger Pilon, eds. Washington: Cato Institute, 1994. Pgs 69-70 http://books.google.com/books?id=PJtRgu3wWWkC&printsec=frontcover#PPA69,M1
The assessment of Chellie Pingree’s history is deeply flawed. Being on a school board in Maine certainly doesn’t make you a full-time politician, and even the state legislature is a part-time job for which legislators get paid next to nothing.
The day Pingree gets signed in as a congresswoman will be the first time she has ever been a full-time politician.
I’d also note that she just spent several years as the president of Common Cause, a group dedicated to reducing corrupt influences in washington.
Does anyone else get the feeling that they’re under the gun if they believe our politicians have alterior motives. Hmm, let’s think. Say what is true and be condemned. In regard to the comment about Chellie Pingree’s Common Cause group. Does that mean if the corrupt influences are benefitting her (Chellie), that there is no need for reduction? I find that statement to be a little ambiguosly ambitious. I don’t believe that Captive American is saying that people should be perfect in politics. The fundamental issue is the permanence of stagnent ideas from comfortably stale bureaucratically aligned or influenced lifetime politicians. I think the point is to shake people out of the dream state that “It’s OK” for politicians to make a mockery of term limits. Why Americans can’t see that career politicians are the mouth of all our policy and political problems is beyond this man! I think people have a truly tough time believing that our government can change. I am a person that has the utmost faith that it can. One person at a time is OK with me, although, I would rather be able to just snap my fingers.
Thank you very much for your efforts re: term limits, and for putting together the spreadsheet. Greatly appreciated. Fantastic resource.
Again, thank you for you time and energy.
Gregory Roberts Sr.