Huffington Post, December 3, 2018: Running for office is really hard if you’re not a millionaire
Many of the lawmakers walking the gilded halls of Congress are, financially, far better off than the constituents they represent. Millionaires comprise nearly 40 percent of Congress, compared to being just 4 percent of the U.S. population.
This lopsided representation is not just some coincidence.
The 2018 elections saw a surge of first-time candidates running for office. It was the most diverse field in history. But financially, many of these candidates found it tough to make ends meet.
“You have to say to yourself, ‘Can I afford to not have cash coming in?’ And we were lucky we did,” Kerry Harris said. “There was a couple of weeks there, when I was running, that things were a little tight. But you know, we made it.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the national phenomenon from New York who is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, did pay herself a salary ? but only $6,000. Ocasio-Cortez, in many ways, was one of the lucky ones, because she won and will now have a job.
