In their own words: What it's like in a 'chaos' Congress and why these lawmakers keep coming back

WASHINGTON (AP) — Polarizing. Challenging. A lot of wasted time.

That’s how six lawmakers described what it is like being in the U.S. House — a particularly tumultuous period in American history that has brought governing to a standstill, placed their lives in danger and raised fundamental questions about what it means to be a representative in a divided democracy.

And yet, they keep at it, running for reelection.

The Associated Press sat down separately with lawmakers, three Republicans and three Democrats, to hear what it’s like on Capitol Hill and what they — and other Americans — can do to make it better. All hail from safe districts and are expected to easily win another term.

Here’s who they are, why they first ran for office and why they keep coming back.

Republicans

Dusty Johnson is the rare lawmaker whose sprawling district makes up an entire state, South Dakota. He ran for office in 2018 because he thought there were “too many jerks” in Congress and he would be better.

Nicole Malliotakis said that as the daughter of a Cuban mother and Greek father, her background made her born for politics. She ran in 2020 to provide a “counter view” as a Republican from New York City, representing Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Mark Amodei from northern Nevada, or “original Nevada,” as he calls it, has been in office since 2011. He said it’s his responsibility to do public service and give back to the state where his family has lived for generations.

Democrats

Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, comes from the western Philadelphia region known as “the mushroom capital of the world.” The daughter of a Holocaust survivor and mother of a queer daughter, she decided to run for office in 2018 after seeing them in tears after Donald Trump’s 2016 election.

Veronica Escobar, from the border city of El Paso, Texas, ran for office to work for her community but also to tell the “El Paso story” and counter some of the “negative narratives” about immigrants. She won election in 2018.

Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress, said his initial response to running for office was “Hell, no!” But he came to realize his work as the national organizer at March for Our Lives after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, could carry over into Congress. He first won office in 2022.

So how’s it going?

“Chaos is honestly the word I would use to describe the totality of the Congress," Frost said. "A lot of wasted time.”

“You have your ups and downs,” said Malliotakis.

Almost all of them have been in office during two presidential impeachments, two historic House speaker fights, the COVID closures and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

“All of the things that you could not expect have happened have, have happened,” Houlahan said. This year in particular has been frustrating “and in some cases super demoralizing because, you know, you’re not here to not do things.”

Amodei said, “I think it’s an asset if you know how to play well with others. And if you don’t play well with others, then this is a nasty place to be.”

Escobar, who was among the lawmakers trapped in the House gallery on Jan. 6, 2021, said: “I will tell you, I love my job. I’m grateful for my job. It’s a tough job.”

What can Congress do differently?

“I struggle with that a lot,” said Houlahan.

Houlahan said the House’s 435 members operate like “independent contractors,” with small staffs and each office’s own personality. After a career in the military, as a small business entrepreneur and as a high school chemistry teacher, she said, “I’ve never seen anything like the organizational structure that is here.”

“Some of those offices, their mission is chaos, you know, and some of those offices, their mission is constructive,” Houlahan said.

Johnson said it’s the wrong question to be asking.

“It’s garbage in, garbage out,” he said.

“And if the people of America are going to continue to elect people who use fear and anger to motivate, we’re going to continue to find it more difficult than it should be to get things done in Congress,” he said.

Frost thinks unless there are institutional reforms — campaign finance changes and ending the Senate’s filibuster — “we’re going to be caught in this generational cycle of taking a few steps forward and a few steps backwards.”

Malliotakis expects it’s going to be this way for a while.

“The far right does its thing, the far left does its thing, and then everyone else in the middle really comes together to actually govern,” she said.

And what can Americans do to fix Congress?

“Congress is a reflection of what’s happening in America,” Escobar said.

“We have families that can no longer talk to one another about politics or about government,” she said. “We are drifting so far away from what is so good about our country and our communities, and Congress has a role in fixing that. ... But we in our country have to do more of that, as well.”

Malliotakis said it would help if Americans paid more attention to what their representatives were “actually doing when they’re in Washington.”

“So many people complain about issues and then they vote for the same members over and over,” she said.

Johnson suggests Americans list characteristics they would seek in a spouse, a boss, a pastor or child and use them when electing a representative.

“Congress can’t fix Congress,” he said. “The American people can fix Congress.”

Do you worry for your safety?

“We’ve all gotten death threats,” Malliotakis said. “Obviously, it is a polarizing time right now.”

Escobar said she has stopped holding large town hall gatherings over concerns of gun violence.

“I worry that any time I’m gathered with my constituents that one of my constituents could get hurt,” she said. “And I worry that my presence at a large gathering could put somebody else’s safety at risk.”

Houlahan said the risks of violence come with the job.

“This is a job where we are in danger,” she said. “It’s awful that we’re in that place, and we as leaders should be decrying that and not encouraging that.”

She said, “But it is absolutely my expectation that this is not a safe job.”

Frost said the threats he receives as a member of Congress are not new to him. “And I think it just shows, of course, the tone and this kind of violent culture that exists within American politics.”

What are the best parts of your job?

All said getting stuff done — even small wins. Especially the small wins, in fact, because that’s about all Congress can accomplish these days.

“There’s no other feeling like it,” said Frost.

He described standing at the White House for the launch of the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention. And the “joy” he felt when receiving word that the administration would approve a second passport office in Florida, something constituents had been demanding since before he came to Congress.

Amodei mentioned work he’s done toward a monument for Vietnam War helicopter pilots at Arlington National Cemetery. “That’s neat.”

“The best days are days when you actually feel like you took a vote of consequence,” Johnson said, whether it’s certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election or “making sure that we don’t have any of these silly, stupid dumpster fires.”

“My role as a legislator is to find a solution,” Escobar said. “It may not be the perfect solution.... I have constituents who get mad at me for saying that, but progress is incremental.”

And the worst?

“I commute about 5,000 miles a week,” Amodei said.

But what’s “worse is when you feel like you’re here and your time is being taken for granted,” he said.

Why do you keep coming back?

“I keep coming back because it’s work that matters,” Johnson said.

“I do love what I do,” Malliotakis said, adding she wants to do "great work for our constituents.”

Houlahan said she envisions a future where Congress turns a corner.

“I stay because I’m hoping that we will find ourselves again," she said. "And I hope that I can be part of it.”

Frost said, “If we step away from our civic power, our opposition is more than happy to step into it for us.”

“The way this institution works should reflect the wants and needs of the people. And so ... that’s why we've got to keep coming back.”

Does Congress matter?

“Anybody who would act like Congress doesn’t matter, I think, is naive to the point of being a bad citizen,” Johnson said. “The reality is that every single month, we cast votes that bend the trajectory of this country.”

Amodei said, “Well, fair question, but it’s like, well, do you think Social Security is important if you’re over 65? Do you think Medicare is important?... Do you think that our borders are important?”

He said he gets the “uber-cynics” who say, “You people are such dysfunctional jerks that we should just get rid of all of you. It’s like, okay, so tell me what your plan is.”

“Everything we do here in Washington, D.C., in Congress, impacts every single citizen in this great country,” Escobar said.

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Mascaro is the AP congressional correspondent. Pesoli is an AP videojournalist.