What it’s like in a Congress of “chaos” and why these lawmakers keep coming back

WASHINGTON – Polarization. Defiant. A lot of wasted time.

This is how six lawmakers described what it was like to be in US Chamber — a particularly turbulent period in American history that it brought rule in a deadlockhe placed his lives in danger and raised fundamental questions about what it means to be representative in a divided democracy.

And yet they persist, they run re-election.

The Associated Press met separately with lawmakers, three Republicans and three Democrats, to find out what the situation is like at the Capitol and what they – and Americans – can do to make it better. They all come from safe neighborhoods and are expected to win easily another date.

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 covers the entire state of South Dakota. He ran for office in 2018 because he believed there were “too many jerks” in Congress and things would get better.

Nicole Malliotakis said that as the daughter of a Cuban mother and a Greek father, she was born for politics due to her origins. She ran in 2020 to present a “controversial view” as a New York Republican representing Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Mark Amodei of northern Nevada, or “the original Nevada” as he calls it, has been in office since 2011. He said it was his duty to perform public service and give back to the state in which his family had lived for generations.

Democrats

Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, is from West Philadelphia, 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 cry 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. In 2018, she won the elections.

Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress, said his first reaction to running for office was, “Hell no!” But he came to realize his work as a national organizer of the March for Our Lives after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, was able to spill over into Congress. He first takes office in 2022.

How’s it going?

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

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

Nearly all of them were in office during two presidential impeachments, two historic House speaker battles, Covid-19 pandemic closures and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

“Everything happened that you couldn’t expect,” Houlahan said. This year in particular has been frustrating, “and in some cases very demoralizing because, you know, you’re not here to do nothing.”

Amodei said: “I think it’s an advantage if you know how to play well with others. And if you don’t get along well with others, it’s a nasty place.”

Escobar, who was among the lawmakers trapped in the House gallery on Jan. 6, 2021, said: “Let me tell you, I love my job. I am grateful for my job. It’s hard work.”

What can Congress do differently?

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

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

“You know, the mission of some of these offices is chaos, and the mission of some of them is constructive,” Houlahan said.

Johnson said that was the wrong question.

“Garbage in, garbage out,” he said.

“And if the American people continue to elect people who are motivated by fear and anger, it will continue to be more difficult for us to get things done in Congress than it should be,” he said.

Frost believes that unless institutional reforms are made – changes to campaign finance and an end to the Senate filibuster – “we will be stuck in this generational cycle of taking a few steps forward and a few steps back.”

Malliotakis expects this to continue for some time.

“The far right does their thing, the far left does their thing, and then everyone 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 is happening in America,” Escobar said.

“We have families who can no longer talk to each other about politics or the government,” she said. “We have strayed so far from what is so good about our country and our communities, and Congress has a role in fixing it. … But we, in our country, also need to do more.”

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

“A lot of people complain about certain issues and then vote for the same members over and over again,” she said.

Johnson suggests that Americans make a list of the qualities they would look for in a spouse, boss, pastor or child and use them when choosing a representative.

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

Are you worried about your safety?

“We all received death threats,” Malliotakis said. “Of course, now is a time of polarization.”

Escobar said she has stopped holding large gatherings at City Hall due to concerns about gun violence.

“I worry that every time I meet with my constituents, one of my constituents might get hurt,” she said. “And I’m concerned that my presence at a large gathering could jeopardize the safety of others.”

Houlahan said the risk of violence comes with the job.

“This is a job where we are at risk,” she said. “It is terrible that we find ourselves in this place and as leaders we should condemn it and not encourage it.”

She said: “But I absolutely expect it’s not a safe job.”

Frost said the threats he receives as a member of Congress are nothing new to him. “And I think that obviously shows the tone and the kind of culture of violence that exists in American politics.”

What are the best parts of your job?

Everyone said getting things done – even small victories. Especially small victories, because that’s pretty much all Congress can accomplish right now.

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

He described standing in the White House during the inauguration of the first-ever Office to Prevent Gun Violence. And the “joy” he felt when he received news that the administration would approve the creation of a second passport office in Florida, something voters had demanded since before he came to Congress.

Amodei mentioned the work for which he made the monument Helicopter pilots of the Vietnam War at Arlington National Cemetery. “That’s nice.”

“The best days are the days when you really feel like the vote mattered,” Johnson said, whether it’s to certify the 2020 presidential election results or to “make sure we don’t have one of these stupid wildfires “garbage bins”

“My role as a legislator is to find a solution,” Escobar said. “It may not be ideal. … I have constituents who get mad at me for saying this, but progress is gradual.”

And the worst?

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

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

Why do you keep coming back?

“I keep coming back because it’s all about the work,” Johnson said.

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

Houlahan said she sees a future in which Congress changes its mind.

“I’m staying because I hope we will find each other again,” she said. “And I hope I can be a part of it.”

Frost said, “If we step away from our civic power, our opposition will happily step in on our behalf.”

“The way this institution operates should reflect people’s desires and needs. And that’s why… that’s why we have to come back here.”

Does Congress matter?

“I think anyone who acts as if Congress doesn’t matter is naive to the point of being a bad citizen,” Johnson said. “The reality is that each of us has cast votes that are distorting the trajectory of this country.”

Amodei said: “Well, fair question, but do you think Social Security is important if you’re over 65? Do you think Medicare is important?… Do you think our borders are important?”

He said he gets “Ubercynics” who say, “You guys are such dysfunctional jerks, we should just get rid of you all. It’s like, OK, so tell me what your plan is.

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

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Mascaro is AP’s congressional correspondent. Pesoli is an AP video journalist.