Just 9 Women Rank in 50 Richest
Only nine women made it onto Roll Call’s
50 Richest Members of Congress
list this year, and all are Democrats — save for lone Republican Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., emerged as the
wealthiest
female lawmaker with a minimum net worth of nearly $44 million. Feinstein listed no liabilities and most of her assets were investments in a variety of corporations.
Two other female Democratic senators joined Feinstein on the list: Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
McCaskill ranked in the middle of the pack with a minimum net worth of roughly $18 million, thanks mostly to her husband, who made a fortune in real estate development.
Hagan’s minimum net worth was $9 million and can be attributed to her own real estate investments. Hagan is one of several lawmakers on the list who face tough re-election fights in November.
The rest of the women serve in the House.
On the Democratic side, at number 14, was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with a minimum net worth of $29 million. The other Democrats on the list: Chellie Pingree of Maine, Nita M. Lowey of New York, Carolyn B. Maloney of New York and Suzan DelBene of Washington.
DelBene is the second richest woman in Congress, with a minimum net worth of nearly $38 million. A former Microsoft executive, DelBene lists nearly $28 million in investments. She owns 79 percent of the assets listed on her financial disclosure form, with her husband owning less than one-third. But the same cannot be said of a number of the other female lawmakers.
The majority of the women on the lists reported most of their assets were owned by their spouses, and five of the nine reported their spouses owned more than 50 percent of their assets.
Six men also are wealthy thanks to their spouses’ assets, including the second-wealthiest member, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who did not list a single asset in his own name.
One woman ranked among the 10 “poorest” members of Congress . Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, was No. 3, with a reported $972,000 in debt thanks to two mortgages, a home equity line of credit and credit cards.
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