Joint Center Penned Op-Ed in The Hill on Urging Congress to Hire Diverse Top Staff

Joint Center Senior Researcher Dr. LaShonda Brenson penned an op-ed entitled “Congressional offices urgently need racial diversity” in The Hill. In the piece, Dr. Brenson highlights the lack of racial diversity among top and mid-level staff in Congress and its impact on policymaking, especially amid the anticipated escalation of attacks on diverse communities. The op-ed was published in tandem with the launch of the Joint Center’s biennial hiring campaign that tracks the racial makeup of top staff hires in congressional offices.

From the piece: “Amid this political backdrop, new and returning members of Congress will grapple with critical issues affecting our increasingly diverse nation. Reaching their policy goals and meeting the needs of their diverse constituencies will depend, in part, on how well congressional staff can represent, understand and provide policy solutions for the problems facing this nation.

Unfortunately, diversity among congressional top staff (i.e., chiefs of staff, legislative directors and communications directors) falls short of the diversity of the U.S.

A 2023 Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report found that while non-whites account for 41.1 percent of the U.S. population, they only account for 15.8 percent of top staff in the personal offices of U.S. senators. Similarly, a 2022 report found that people of color account for only 18 percent of top House staff. This glaring lack of diversity is the catalyst for the Joint Center’s congressional hiring campaign, which launched this month to track the racial makeup of top staff hires of newly elected and returning members of Congress.”

Click here to read the full op-ed.