Senior Lawmakers Are Sprinting from ‘Toxic’ Congress. Why Are Freshmen Sticking Around?

“One of the big reasons I wanted to run for Congress was to actually fight back against the toxic environment that is pervasive here,” Rep. Johnny Olszewski said from his office on Capitol Hill on a dreary December Wednesday.

“I joke with constituents back home,” he said. “They ask me, ‘Is D.C. really as bad as it seems?’”

“I say, ‘No. It’s worse.’”

Olszewski, a 43-year-old Maryland Democrat on the cusp of finishing out his first year in Congress, laughed in a way that made clear he had practiced the punchline. But over the course of an interview with NOTUS, it became apparent that the congressman wasn’t kidding.

The performative nature of national politics in 2025 has been more theatrical, and personal, than Olszewski had imagined. Getting to know Republican colleagues has been harder than he’d anticipated. Policymaking has been more dilatory than the local politics to which he had become accustomed. Commuting, even back to his district in Baltimore, is more taxing than expected. And, once, when Olszewski proposed what he thought was a common-sense amendment to a government funding bill — only one lawmaker showed up to a Rules Committee hearing to consider it.

“There’s a reason that Congress has a 13% — or whatever abysmal approval rating the institution has,” he said. “It’s deserved.””

And yet, as he relayed his myriad frustrations, Olszewski knew he would be running again. In fact, he had just filed for reelection.

“I believe nothing is beyond redemption,” he said. “I don’t think people are beyond redemption. I don’t think this institution is beyond redemption, because, at the end of the day, the institution is a reflection of the people.”

In offices throughout Capitol Hill, freshman lawmakers offered similar refrains. And as new members look on at the senior lawmakers sprinting from Capitol Hill, they sympathize.

Many lawmakers have decided that the legislative branch is beyond repair. Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, who is running for governor of Arizona, told NOTUS that Congress is “irredeemable.” Rep. Victoria Spartz, who has threatened to quit Congress, told NOTUS the House has “a lot of perverse incentives for people to govern and do politics.” Rep. Michael McCaul, who is retiring, described “partisanship, rancor, vitriolic debate, demonizing the other side of the aisle” as a motivator for his exit.

But unlike the senior members who have been beaten down by those realities, the freshmen have chosen to jump into Congress — and stick around to repair it.

“Everyone hates Congress,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia told NOTUS, “and people feel the same frustration I feel about the institution. But it’s also an opportunity right now to fix something that’s clearly broken.”

But this year’s momentous fights over the speakership, Medicaid, the bounds of executive authority, government funding and the release of the so-called Epstein files have tested even the most patient and optimistic lawmaker’s fortitude — especially given Republicans’ narrow majorities in the House and the Senate.

“Things are slower,” Republican Rep. Julie Fedorchak told NOTUS. “This is a numbers game, and I knew that coming in. But it just becomes more real when you’re super excited about policy ideas, and you think that they make so much sense that it’s just gonna, ‘Everybody should agree with this.’ And then you get to the like, ‘Oh, I gotta get 218,’ and it’s a lot harder than you thought.”

Five freshmen who spoke to NOTUS offered the same solution to make Congress a healthier place to work: prioritizing making relationships over making news.

Part of accomplishing that goal — both Republicans and Democrats say — will involve lawmakers getting to know members across the aisle. But doing so while balancing a commute between Washington and their districts requires extra effort.

Rep. Emily Randall, of Washington state, signed up for a fact-finding trip to Alaska with other members so she could spend time with her colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee.

“I wanted to have meals outside of C-SPAN cameras and get to know them,” Randall said. “And I’m really, really glad I went. We had some interesting policy discussions, but for the most part, it was about, like, getting to know about people’s families and, like, what inspired them to run in the first place. And how, if they’ve ever been fishing, and you know how they think about, like, our role alongside salmon in the world in like, a very touchy-feely way.”

Olszewski said one Monday Night Football pizza party with Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd and other freshmen served a similar purpose for him. Fedorchak brought up the bipartisan softball game as “probably the greatest tool I had to get to know members from the other party.”

“With our freshman class, you get a lot of people who are not looking to get in the news for the sake of getting in the news, not looking to stir up unnecessary issues or trouble. You get a lot of people who are looking to push the country in the right direction,” Rep. Brandon Gill, the freshman class president, told NOTUS.

“The more we get members who are willing to do that and ready to do the hard work, the faster we’re going to move the country in the right direction,” he said.

But there are, of course, fundamental challenges with the premise that members of Congress can keep their heads down and form collegial relationships. Gill — a staunch conservative — hasn’t been immune to attention-grabbing, provocative tactics. In February, he sent out a fundraising email that included a petition to “arrest and deport” progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar. He led the charge to add President Donald Trump’s face to the $100 bill. And he regularly appears on conservative media outlets.

And yet, even Gill professed a desire to get back to a Congress that rewards workhorses over partisan showhorses.

“I’m not willing to give up on the promise of our democracy and on our government,” Randall said. “I’m like, sort of a natural optimist. But I guess I believe in, like, the institution less than like, the power of people to build something good. I also believe in the power of people to like, do terrible things. But you know that there are enough people here who, I believe, believe that they are here for the right reasons.”

At least, for some members, complaining about the bleak reality of Capitol Hill is a first step toward healing.

“Has it gotten better since I got here? Probably not, but certainly we’re at least bringing awareness to how it’s dysfunctional,” Subramanyam said, “and hopefully we’ll start to make incremental changes in the right direction.”

As Fedorchak told NOTUS, “What’s the alternative, throw your hands up? Walk away?”