Democrats attack GOP as ‘carpetbaggers,’ but they love their million-dollar DC mansions

The campaign arm for Senate Democrats is “itching” to paint Republicans owning million-dollar homes outside states they’re running in as out-of-touch “carpetbaggers,” Axios reported. There’s just one problem: By that definition, so are wealthy Democratic lawmakers, according to property records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) own Washington, D.C., homes equipped with luxury amenities, among other Democrats who have properties in the district. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) recently pocketed rental income from his Phoenix home while taking advantage of a taxpayer-funded program to help pay for the lawmaker’s $940,000 townhouse in Capitol Hill. And Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who is running for Senate in Michigan, has long had a home in Washington and was likened to a “carpetbagging elitist” in 2018 for only living part-time in Michigan to run since her then-husband, Dave Moore, worked at the Pentagon (Slotkin’s former employer) a few days each week.

“It’s surprising that Democrats are pushing this line of attack,” Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “Their candidates are a mix of carpetbaggers and career politicians who have gotten extremely wealthy while serving in office.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Tommy Garcia told Axios on Sunday that the GOP’s “roster of recruits is full of carpetbaggers who don’t know the first thing about the states they’re running in and candidates who bring enough financial scandals and baggage to fill a bank vault.” Republicans mentioned in the report as owning the out-of-state homes included ex-congressman Mike Rogers, who is running for Senate in Michigan, Pennsylvania Senate hopeful David McCormick, and Senate candidate Eric Hovde in Wisconsin — among others.

Republican Montana Senate challenger Tim Sheehy “has lived in Montana for the past decade but grew up in Minnesota,” according to the report.

But Sheehy’s opponent, Tester, purchased a Capitol Hill property in May 2013 for $756,000, according to the deed.

Now Zillow estimates the house is worth more than $1 million. According to a real estate listing, Tester’s home is a “cosmopolitan castle.” It also has an “enchanting patio,” the listing reads.

Tester reported assets on his annual 2022 Senate financial disclosure worth up to $6.5 million, according to a Washington Examiner analysis.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) walks to a vote on Capitol Hill on Sept. 6, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Then there’s Baldwin. In 2021, the senator and her partner Maria Brisbane splurged on a $1.3 million penthouse in Capitol Hill, according to the deed.

That hasn’t stopped Baldwin from calling Hovde, who reportedly paid $7 million in 2018 for a Laguna Beach, California, estate, an “out of state multimillionaire.”

Baldwin’s Capitol Hill home features “rich, espresso cabinetry, soaring ceilings and a PRIVATE roof deck with monument views like you cannot believe!” according to an online listing.

“It’s laughable that Democrats are trying to contrast successful businessmen to lifelong politicians who have spent decades in office,” Torunn Sinclair, a spokeswoman for the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, told the Washington Examiner.

Meanwhile, in 2022, Gallego and his real estate lobbyist wife earned $20,000 renting out their Phoenix home, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

That came as the lawmaker used taxpayer funds through a congressional program to pay a property tax bill and utilities, according to the outlet.

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“Democrats are running candidates who built their wealth on the taxpayers’ dime while accomplishing nothing in Washington,” Sinclair said.