Report: John McCain is Arizona’s wealthiest congressman
Nov 25, 2014, 7:06 PM | Updated: 9:07 pm
Politicians don’t necessarily become rich because of their government salaries, but many of them do quite well for themselves because of their other lines of business.
To see the who’s who of rich politicians, the media website Vox concocted a map of each state’s wealthiest members of Congress using data from CQ Roll Call’s Wealth of Congress list.
Vox says 35 percent of Congress’ members have disclosed a net worth of at least $1 million.
Note that these are only minimum net worths. That’s because when members of Congress file financial disclosures, they only have to estimate a range of assets, not nail down an exact amount. CQ Roll Call uses the lowest numbers in these ranges, so their wealth estimates — and this map — are actually quite conservative.
A map of each state's wealthiest member of Congress, by @awprokop @anandkatakam http://t.co/qBDx6PZ0SA pic.twitter.com/CRLrqYQ3HD
— Public Integrity (@Publici) November 21, 2014
The news site also notes half of the states have at least one member of Congress worth $9 million, and that only three states — Alaska, Hawaii and South Dakota — do not have a representative or a senator that crosses the $1 million threshold. Also, seven states have a member of Congress that is worth more than $60 million.
With that said, Arizona richest member of its delegation is Sen. John McCain, who has a reported net worth of $15.17 million, which puts him at 27th overall when it comes to wealth among the two chambers in Washington.
CQ Roll Call says McCain rejoined the 50 richest members of Congress list after two years off the roster.
The McCain fortune is almost entirely thanks to the senator’s wife, Cindy. For the past two decades, she has been the controlling stockholder in Hensley & Co., which her father, Jim, started in a quite sleepy Arizona in the 1950s but which has grown to become the largest beverage distributor in the burgeoning state as well as the third-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the country.
Until his family’s recent rebound, McCain saw his fortunes shrink steadily since his presidential run in 2008. His net worth was at least $20 million six years ago, and he was the 13th wealthiest person in Congress at that time.
His family money became an issue that year, when he conceded he couldn’t recall how many houses he owned. Democrats, led by their nominee Barack Obama, took delight in labeling that memory lapse as evidence McCain was way out of touch with the economic concerns of everyday Americans. The senator’s most recent disclosures makes that tally more clear. The couple still owns at least five residences: Their voting home in Phoenix, three properties in luxurious neighborhoods in southern California and the family’s picturesque getaway between Sedona and Cottonwood
Also ranking high on the list was Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. Franks came in 39th overall with a net worth of $11.1 million. Most of his assets come from a Phoenix-based oil business he founded with his brother in 1997.
The four members of the two Washington chambers who clocked in at a net worth of more than $100 million are Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). Issa’s $357.3 million largely comes from founding a car alarm company. McCaul has a wife who is an heiress, and he has a net worth of $117.5 million. Delaney made his money in finance, and he has a net worth of $111.9 million. Rockefeller comes from a wealthy family and is reportedly worth $108.1 million.