What is life actually like for a member of Congress?
That question has been gnawing at me for some time.
I’m a politics reporter, and despite spending so much time talking to politicians, or reporting in and around Washington, D.C., or following the news, I think my honest answer is I just don’t know.
Or, I should say, I didn’t know.
That was until a couple months ago, when I got to spend three straight days with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA). Auchincloss is a three-term member of Congress; he’s young, just 37, and he’s noted that he’s the youngest Democratic father in Congress. He also happens to be a subscriber to the Tangle newsletter.
Here’s what happened: A few months back, my team and I were kicking around ideas for a YouTube video. One that I kept coming back to was “a day in the life of a member of Congress.” I had spent a few hours looking up behind-the-scenes documentaries about Congress, but was coming up empty handed. The only “day in the life” videos were ones put out by a member of Congress’s own press team — not an independent media organization. I wanted to shadow a member and pull back the curtain on what their daily life was really like. The stumbling block, as you can imagine, was finding someone in Congress who would actually allow such a level of access.
And then a funny thing happened: Rep. Auchincloss wrote me an email.
The email was a response to a Tangle newsletter about healthcare, and he was criticizing a position I had taken. We struck up a correspondence, and then it suddenly hit me: Would he do it? We got in touch with his press secretary, and I shot him a message on the side encouraging him to play ball. It didn’t take much convincing; to my surprise and delight, he was happy to have us come down and follow him around for a day (which ended up being more like 72 hours).
So, today, we’re releasing a documentary-style video on YouTube about the time we spent with him.
A few things I should note: Obviously, Auchincloss’s team knew we were coming, so they had ample time to prepare for our visit. He attended some meetings we couldn’t attend, some staffers didn’t want to be on camera, we couldn’t sit in on a few of his conversations (some we were allowed to sit on, but weren’t allowed to record). Where that happens, we make note of it in the video.
But, for the most part, this really was an unprecedented level of access — a look into what life is like for one member of Congress, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen before. I am extremely grateful to Auchincloss and his team for their time and their willingness to allow us in, and to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), who sat for a lengthy interview with us during our visit.
I hesitate to pass judgment on Auchincloss in these pages (lest it come off as an endorsement), but I think he earned this: He struck me as a smart, open-minded, and thoughtful representative who is genuinely trying to do good and think critically about his work, and I suspect his name will become much better known in the years to come. He was also working a lot harder than I expected (which I joked about with him on camera). I hold these opinions even though we disagree on plenty of issues.
As a final note, if you’re an elected official reading this (or work for one, or know one personally) and would be open to talking with us about doing a similar “day in the life” video, please reach out to will@readtangle.com. We’re particularly interested in shadowing an elected Republican — a member of Congress, governor, or state representative — for our next installment in what we hope is the first of many such videos.
With that, I’m thrilled to present to you a day in the life of a United States member of Congress:
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