Senators Collectively Worth At Least $800 Million
Average Senator is a Millionaire
What You Need to Know…
The United States Senate operates differently than the House of Representatives. I’ll spare you a detailed civics lesson, but the Senate likes to pretend it has its house in order more so than the House — something that is hard to refute after the recent speaker debacle.
Hunter’s Political Wealth Index analyzed all current U.S. senators’ personal financial disclosure reports for the calendar year 2022. Here’s what you need to know about their reported minimum net worths, assets and liabilities while we work on cleaning up the data for House members in the coming weeks.
1. Most Senators Are Millionaires
57 senators are worth at least $1 million. 63 of them have at least $1 million in assets. For context, the median net worth of a U.S. household is roughly $193k according to the Federal Reserve.
Also, keep in mind, that senators are not obligated to report any personal residences (that don’t generate income) as assets but have to disclose mortgages on those residences as liabilities. So, for most senators, their minimum net worth is deflated and does not include a very common (or at times, largest) asset in other U.S. households.
Collectively, the senators owe at least $44.04 million across a combined 189 liabilities. Two-thirds are mortgages on personal residences in their home states or D.C. as well as on vacation homes and rental properties.
2. Five Richest Senators Hold 63% of the Chamber’s Wealth
The top five in terms of minimum net worth hold almost two-thirds of the entire chamber’s wealth. Even in the Senate, there’s a significant divide between wealthy and generational — “send my great-grandkids to boarding school” — wealthy.
The 1% of the Senate aka the richest senator, Florida Republican Rick Scott alone holds over a quarter (26%) of the Senate’s wealth. He amassed his fortune partially through Medicare fraud as detailed in his Political Piggy Bank profile.
3. Political Wealth is Bipartisan
The Senate Millionaires Club is divided almost equally between the two parties and fairly representative of the Senate as a whole. 54% (31) of the club are Republicans; 44% (25) are Democrats; and ~2% are Independents (Angus King of Maine).
Search for your individual senators’ rank.
4. Even [Some] Senators Have Student Loans
Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema was the only senator to report a personally-held student loan from 2002 owing at least $15k to the embattled student loan servicer MOHELA — a Department of Education contractor to collect federal loans.
California Democrat Alex Padilla also reported a student loan that was held solely by his wife, Angela — a mental health advocate. The debt of at least $15k was incurred in 2020, presumably for her graduate degree at Cal State Northridge.
5. Personal Campaign Loans as Assets
Four senators reported past campaign loans as debts owed to themselves: Republicans Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James E. Risch of Idaho, Ted Budd of North Carolina, and Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington.
Johnson disclosed campaign loans worth at least $5 million as an asset with the comment:
“Based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Cruz v. FEC and the FEC’s issuance of AO 2022-15, all funds to prior campaigns have been deemed loans and suitable for repayment.”
Risch’s successful campaign for lieutenant governor still owes him a loan worth at least $250k. Cantwell’s first Senate campaign’s (in 2000) loan is worth at least $1 million. Budd may have already been paid back from his 2022 Senate campaign as his loan value dropped from $250k to — now — zero (or less than $1,000 reporting range).
Even the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s 2024 re-election campaign owed her at least $250k according to her annual disclosure filed this year.
I’d recommend following OpenSecrets if you want to dive deeper into the campaign and fundraising side of money in politics.
6. TIL: Grab Bag of Notable Assets
Cryptocurrency: Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and J.D. Vance of Ohio both reported Bitcoin investments. Cruz used the River exchange for his Bitcoin worth at least $15k; Vance went with Coinbase for his worth at least $100k.
Solar energy credits: Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley reported the sales of solar renewable energy credits generating $2,251 in income in 2022.
Free rent on their own farm?: Montana Republican Jon Tester reported an agreement with T-Bone Farms, Inc., a farm corporation that he also disclosed as a jointly-held asset with his wife worth at least $500k for “wages [reported as: $2,153], housing, and equipment rental”. Tester also disclosed farmland worth at least $1 million, with his only transaction for the year being a purchase of at least $100k of additional farmland.
If you want to read profiles of individual senators and support my work, upgrade to a paid subscription to access every Politician’s Piggy Bank profile on Hunter’s Political Wealth Index. Click the button below for a limited-time offer that expires on Thanksgiving!
Editorial Note: This analysis is based on 99 current sitting U.S. senators as reported in their annual financial disclosure reports for the calendar year 2022. California Democrat Laphonza Butler — who was sworn in on Oct. 3 to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein — was not included as her first report is not due until Jan. 2024.