When Paris Hilton came to Capitol Hill in June 2024, swarms of reporters eager to get a quote and staffers eager to snag a picture followed her everywhere she went.
“Sliving!” one staffer yelled out — a classic Paris Hilton-ism familiar to her most loyal followers.
Hilton was there to testify about abuse in youth treatment homes and lobby members of Congress to pass the “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act” — with her famous Pomeranians in tow.
For anyone accustomed to life on Capitol Hill, large crowds following an individual aren’t exactly a strange occurrence, especially when a lawmaker is in the news. But when a major celebrity like Hilton sets foot in Congress, the intrigue is different.
Of course, celebrity sightings on Capitol Hill aren’t rare. On any given day, there could be multiple “celebrities” — and that term runs the gamut from someone like Usher to Bill Nye — spotted in the marbled halls of Congress. And that’s before even considering the star power of politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Vice President JD Vance.
Seeing famous politicians is baked into the Capitol Hill experience. Seeing 50 Cent in the Senate basement is not.
But the truth is, celebrities are frequently attaching their names to political causes, and their advocacy work frequently brings them to Congress.
In Hilton’s case, her bill that protects minors at rehab and residential facilities passed Congress with bipartisan support. Former President Joe Biden then signed it into law during his last weeks in office.
“She came to us on it,” Rep. Ro Khanna, one of the bill’s most ardent supporters, told NOTUS about what it was like working with Hilton. “I knew her husband, Carter [Reum], because he’s a tech leader, and he said, ‘Will you take a meeting with this group of survivors from the congregate care facilities?’ and I did.”
Lawmakers working with celebrities is a fairly straightforward process. Usually, members told NOTUS, a celebrity’s public relations team reaches out to an office on a specific issue that a certain lawmaker is already involved in.
If the member is looking to amplify their issue, they usually invite the celebrity to appear on the Hill to speak to other lawmakers, hold press conferences, or just take a meeting in their office to draw attention. Occasionally, if there’s written legislation involved, the celebrity gets to testify in front of a committee.
Of course, sometimes a celebrity visiting Capitol Hill is actually just visiting a relative. Former Rep. Fred Upton was famous for his tie to his niece, supermodel Kate Upton. He was once seen taking Kate and her husband, baseball star Justin Verlander, around the Capitol for a tour. Actor Chris Evans, who’s visited the Capitol a number of times on official business, also has ties to a former lawmaker; retired Rep. Michael Capuano is his uncle.
Other times, celebrities are invited to events like the State of the Union. (At Biden’s final State of the Union last year, rapper Fat Joe attended as a guest of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and was present to advocate for lowering health care costs.)
In July, Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o spoke on a panel hosted by female members of the Congressional Black Caucus about the lack of awareness around uterine fibroids in women, a health condition that disproportionately affects Black women.
“She was very down to earth, expressed her vulnerabilities around her, revealing her issues with uterine fibroids,” Rep. Shontel Brown, who led the CBC panel, told NOTUS shortly after the event. “I’m grateful for her willingness to raise her voice around the issue, and it was just a great day for Black women’s health with her using her voice in that way.”
Compared to Hilton, Nyong’o’s appearance on the Hill was marked with much less fanfare (which can often be the case, especially when a popular figure chooses to be elusive.) But news of her visit still made the rounds on X.
Did the CBC women fangirl over her? “We were all very much happy to see her,” Brown said. “But when we get into this space, the focus becomes work.”
But getting a celebrity involved isn’t all upside.
When former Vice President Kamala Harris invited Beyonce to speak at a campaign rally last year, the backlash was swift, with some voters arguing that Democrats were falling out of touch with regular Americans.
Hill Democrats don’t exactly see it that way.
“A lot of times they’re working already or will work with community leaders who are certainly not in the elite category,” Rep. Glenn Ivey told NOTUS. “We have that gun violence reduction stuff. Those are salt of the earth, everyday people that are working to try and deal with those issues. I find that whoever wants to be on the team, let’s bring on.”
For Rep. Yvette Clarke, the chair of the CBC — a group that often invites Black celebrities to support its message — celebrities are humans, too.
“When someone comes to the table and says, ‘I want to be a part of this’ and they happen to come out of Hollywood, I’ve never really considered it to be elitist,” she told NOTUS. “Because I just think that at the end of the day, we’re all part of the same civil society.”