Congress could and should help themselves but probably won’t

Imagine going to work each day, worried you could be harassed, insulted or even physically attacked. It would be a nightmare, but it’s a sad reality for a growing number of elected officials and their staff.

The nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation surveyed 138 top congressional aides, showing that 70% of staffers said they have experienced “direct insulting or threatening messages or communications” while on the job and that nearly three out of four Senate staffers said they had frequently experienced anxiety about the safety of members of Congress.

These threats are not isolated to one party with both Democrats and Republicans responding that they are personally experiencing “direct insulting or threatening messages or communication” at least “somewhat frequently.”

In 2016, a decorated Marine named Mike Gallagher was elected to serve as a House member from Wisconsin’s 8th district. Just 32 years old at the time, he went on to join the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, eventually chaired the House Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party and emerged as one of Washington’s most thoughtful voices on national security. Unfortunately, he resigned in April of last year. 

He told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius “This is more just me wanting to prioritize being with my family. I signed up for the death threats and the late-night swatting, but they did not. And for a young family, I would say this job is really hard.”

So being a member of Congress in 2025 is challenging to begin with. When you layer on the threats and intimidation, it gets even harder. 

In response to the assassination attempt on then former Pres. Donald Trump and a credible bomb threat on Rep. John Duarte’s (R-Turlock) home, political analyst Steve Swatt told ABC10 in California:

“Members of Congress are locking their doors instead of keeping their doors wide open, who will only talk to a constituent if there’s an appointment made in advance, they are cutting back on events.” 

In a paper titled “How to Prevent Political Violence” in the “Journal of Democracy,” authors Rachel Kleinfeld and Nicole Bibbins Sedaca describe the increasing violence as a political problem with three dimensions—intense polarization, “the exacerbation and exploitation of existing polarization by some political leaders to build voter loyalty and increase support,” and an intense disillusionment of some citizens with how the political system is working. 

There are no easy answers to these problems, especially when you consider that Americans increasingly say they are voting against candidates and parties more than they are affirmatively voting for someone.

But there are at least two things’ members of Congress could do to start to reverse this vicious cycle.

The first would be if individual members sought to campaign and conduct themselves while in office with all their constituents in mind, not just their own voters. 

Problem Solver, Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York’s 3rd Congressional district wrote an Op-Ed published in the New York Times in Jan. 2025. In it, Suozzi wrote “Only by working together to find compromise on parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda can we make progress for Americans who are clearly demanding change in the economy, immigration, crime and other top issues.” 

Suozzi went on to acknowledge that as “common-sense Democrat who won in a district that Mr. Trump also won,” that a closely divided electorate would rather have bipartisan solutions than gridlock. 

The second would be for members to focus less on the performative aspects of the job and more on the slow, difficult, and essential work of passing legislation that makes Americans lives better.

The last congress, the 118th, was by far the most unproductive since the Reagan administration, passing just under 150 bills over the two years. The 17 Congresses since the start of George H.W. Bush’s presidency in 1989 passed an average of more than 380 laws.

Congress has the power to combat the very issues that are making them less effective, or at a minimum, they could at least slow down the negative spiral but because of our perverse primary system and a lack of competition, Congress is unlikely to do so. Only until the incentives for elected officials change, are we likely to see action. 

It is no wonder that Congress panders to their primary base because in the 2024 primaries, 87% of the U.S. House was elected by just 7% of Americans, making that 7% very powerful.

There is also a lack of competition in Congressional races. During the 2022 general election, out of the 435 U.S. House elections, five out of every six races were decided by more than 10 percentage points. According to a report by Fair Vote, in 2022, only 36 races were true toss-ups compared to 44 in 2018

The threat of political violence in America is real and unfortunately it is growing. While it is incumbent upon our leaders in Washington to take the political temperature down and to deliver for the American people, the incentives in our political problem continue to encourage elected officials to perpetuate the problem instead of being part of the solution.