There’s a secretive cadre of young staffers whose job it is to make the Senate run more efficiently. They’re known informally as the “Body Guy Caucus,” though some are women.
They can be found by most senators’ sides, helping them navigate the maze of hallways, tunnels and subways in the Capitol complex as well as the crowds of reporters outside the Senate chamber who are eager to pounce on their bosses for a quote.
While most congressional staffers tend to work out of an office, body people spend nearly every waking hour shadowing their boss, performing a unique set of duties that include valet, scheduler, traffic cop and sometimes even emotional support animal. It’s a position of trust many senators take very seriously, and one that comes with a high level of stress.
“It is the craziest position to have on the Hill, and it is the best position to have on the Hill, because you have these 22-year-olds that are more or less babysitting some of the most important and powerful people in the country,” one former body person told NOTUS.
Trending
Body people are sometimes tasked with oddball personal requests, too, like random household tasks, grocery shopping and walking dogs. The body person for one Democratic senator was once dispatched to buy their boss nylons. Another former body person recalled once having to safekeep an envelope containing their boss’s false tooth that fell out during the workday.
Admittedly, getting a body person to talk is a challenge. Given the sensitive nature of the job, they aren’t supposed to speak with the press. And unlike other roles in Congress that can be highly competitive and partisan, body people tend to look out for each other — regardless of party affiliation. So when we began reaching out to them, many were already aware that reporters were snooping around, having been tipped off by their fellow body guys and gals.
“Everyone supports one another since they are the only people to really understand what everyone goes through with the long hours and requirements of the job. It’s a microcosm of the Senate,” one body guy told NOTUS.
Most body people tend to be right out of college, using the job as a stepping stone to gain skills and build a network as they work their way up the Capitol Hill ladder. Some have even risen to the coveted role of chief of staff.
Body people spend so much time with their boss, they can pick up their idiosyncrasies. Sen. Katie Britt’s (R-Alabama) body person, for example, wears tennis shoes similar to Britt’s to keep up with one of the fastest lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The body guy for Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) — one of the Hill’s most accessible and loquacious senators — has heard his boss speak so much, he’s begun talking like him and even uses some of his famous one-liners.
“It is literally Gary from ‘Veep.’ … It is the most accurate description of the job that we do,” the first former body person said, referring to the HBO show that depicts a vice president’s devoted body man enduring verbal abuse and lots of emotional distress. The show is widely considered the most spot-on TV representation of life in Washington, D.C.
The role of body man in the Senate isn’t new, though it’s become more common in recent years, especially with the arrival of more media-shy members who aren’t accustomed to the likes of TMZ and other outlets pointing cameras in their face.
In the 1990s, young staffers typically began their careers working as drivers for members and, with that proximity to their bosses, often soared up the ranks in the Capitol for no other reason than the trust they gained in the process.
The modern role largely originated with former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s group of rotating young male aides, nicknamed “purse boys,” who were tasked with carrying her handbag around the Capitol. At any given time, Hutchison had two individuals fill the role, allowing them to switch out driving and walking with her in the halls.
“She famously had an entourage,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who served alongside the ex-senator, said with a big smile. He noted that his own chief of staff, Drew Brandewie, once held that position for Hutchison.
The tradition isn’t dead, either. At a recent vote in the Senate, a male aide was spotted trailing behind Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), purse in hand.
The needs of members have bred all variations of who they wander the hallways with. Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not have a dedicated body person until he took on the top spot of the conference.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) can commonly be seen with three people at any given time: his body person, a policy or press advisor depending on where he’s going, plus a security aide.
“The body man’s one of the most important roles in politics,” Cruz told NOTUS, noting that he tends to hire older-than-usual body men since he views it as such a crucial role. “A good body man makes you a thousand times more effective. A lousy body man ensures constant problems and constant obstacles in the way to accomplishing your work.”
“My body men are also a portal to the entire rest of the team,” Cruz added, pointing to Lee Dudley, his body man. “As you can see, he’s recording this conversation. When it’s over, he will send it to the press team. If I broke some pressing news on national security policy, he’d make sure the national security policy people saw it.”
Dudley described his job succinctly.
“You wear many different hats,” he said.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are still more than a few members who don’t have body guys and view them as unnecessary. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) believes that having someone shadow him would be a “waste of time” for one or both of them.
“I’m not that insecure,” Cramer told NOTUS. “I detest that part of it, and anybody on my staff will tell you so. Having to have somebody hover around me and tell me what to do. I carry two phones. I’m easy to communicate with. If I’m not communicating back, it’s because I don’t want to. I keep pretty close track of the issues. … I don’t need that security blanket.”
“Politics does sort of breed a sort of insecurity in people. I think insecurity goes hand in hand with ego. I just don’t like it,” Cramer continued. “I do not need somebody for the sake of being there.”
Others believe that their decision to navigate the hallways solo fits with their general disposition. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) pointed to her Western upbringing and past life as a rancher, along with her need for “more alone time.”
“I’d rather be alone, not have a tagalong. I’m also one of those people who has personal space, and I know that I need more personal space than a lot of Easterners do,” she said in an interview. “I just need more personal space. I need more alone time.”
Some body people are there to physically support their aging bosses. The late Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran was often so disoriented in the Capitol building, he required several body people to make sure he ended up in the right place. He once went into a room where Democrats were meeting for lunch and stayed there until someone asked if he was planning on eating with Democrats. Eventually his body man, who had lost track of him temporarily, ferried him away to the GOP room.
During busy voting days, body men tend to congregate outside the Senate chamber, waiting to accompany their boss to their next appointment. Their presence can contribute to crowding in the tight hallways, especially when dozens of reporters are doing the same.
“Every senator does not need a body man. These are emotional support body men,” one Senate reporter griped to NOTUS.
But senior Hill aides said that body people play an important role in keeping their boss on schedule. They are circumspect when hiring for the role because it includes access to private conversations.
“You need someone who is reliable and discreet,” said a chief of staff for a Republican senator. “They’re in the car with the senator, in meetings with them and hear them on the phone.”
Chris Marroletti, a former body man for retired Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, said a successful body person helps anticipate challenges and maintains a high standard of professionalism, no matter what situation may arise.
“They could be having a personal family emergency, and you’re in the car and have to be there. You can’t jump out of the limo or something,” Marroletti said. “You are quite literally connected with them. You’re the first person that they see at work and the last person they see at night before they talk to their spouse.”
Maroletti, who was known by friends as the chair of the Body Guy Caucus during his time on Capitol Hill, now runs an unofficial school for wannabe bodies.
Other former body people described the experience as challenging yet rewarding, and one that fosters camaraderie in what is otherwise a highly polarized environment on Capitol Hill.
“It’s one of the most special parts of the Senate because that culture does not exist in the House,” said one Republican operative who used to shadow a senator. “I think as a whole if Congress worked a little more like the Body Guy Caucus, I think we’d be in a little bit of a better place.”
Photo credits: Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP; Mariam Zuhaib/AP; Igor Bobic/NOTUS
Authors
