Quitting Congress
by Kitty Felde
Coming in Spring 2025
I've been working on the third book in the Fina Mendoza Mysteries and it's all about partisanship and how difficult it is to reach across the aisle.
In the forthcoming Snake in the Grass, one important character in the series decides to leave Congress. No, not Papa, Fina's congressman father. It's his top staffer, Claudia.
She's not the only one.
They're Leaving in Droves
You've heard about the wave of retirements among members of Congress.
More than 50 members of the House of Representatives - 12% of members - have either retired, left to run for another office, died, or simply resigned from the 118th Congress. Sixteen Senators have also departed Capitol Hill.
There's even a name for it: the Casualty List.
They aren't the only ones leaving. Staffers are considering leaving, too.
"Congress is broken."
That's the conclusion of the 2024 State of the Congress report from the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to "strengthening Congress and building trust in its work with and for the American people."
Late last year, the CMF emailed more than 2,700 senior staffers in the House and Senate to guage sentiment about the current atmosphere on the Hill.
About half of those surveyed said they are “considering leaving Congress due to heated rhetoric from the other party,” and significantly more Republicans (59%) than Democrats (16%) are considering leaving Congress due to “heated rhetoric from my party.”
The shadows of January 6th
Safety was cited as a prime concern. Nearly three out of four staffers from both parties said they frequently received “direct insulting or threatening messages” and are anxious about the safety of their boss and colleagues.
There is one sign of hope on the Hill.
Staffers on both sides of the aisle (98% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats) said it's “necessary for Senators and Representatives to collaborate across party lines to best meet the needs of the nation.”
Maybe those hard working staffers are the one who should be running the country.
PS: Just a note about Claudia.
Claudia isn’t leaving Capitol Hill entirely. Snake in the Grass explores not just the bitter partisanship in Congress, but also peeks behind the scenes of the campaign machinery that gets people elected to Congress…and the staff who make it work.
Kitty Felde
Snake in the Grass - coming Spring 2025