Dem
47
GOP
53
Almost three-quarters (73%) of sitting senators are worth over a million dollars, and some of them are worth way, way, over $1 million. Here are the top-ten richest senators by net wealth:
| Rank | Senator | State | Party | Net worth | Source of wealth |
| 1 | Jim Justice | West Virginia | Republican | $664 million | He inherited coal mines from his father. |
| 2 | Rick Scott | Florida | Republican | $515 million | He cofounded the nation's largest hospital corporation. |
| 3 | Pete Ricketts | Nebraska | Republican | $208 million | He worked for Ameritrade, which his father founded. |
| 4 | Mark Warner | Virginia | Democratic | $206 million | He made good investments in telecomm companies. |
| 5 | David McCormick | Pennsylvania | Republican | $173 million | He was CEO of a hedge fund. |
| 6 | Tim Sheehy | Montana | Republican | $161 million | He founded an aerial firefighting company. |
| 7 | Bernie Moreno | Ohio | Republican | $139 million | He started a chain of luxury car dealerships. |
| 8 | Ron Johnson | Wisconsin | Republican | $68 million | He was CEO of his brother-in-law's plastics manufacturer. |
| 9 | Markwayne Mullin | Oklahoma | Republican | $67 million | He worked at his family's plumbing business. |
| 10 | Mitch McConnell | Kentucky | Republican | $66 million | He inherited wealth and got a big gift from his wife's family. |
One thing we notice is that five of them (Scott, Warner, McCormick, Sheehy, and Moreno) founded or ran a sucessful company. They are good entrepreneurs. Maybe those skills helped them get elected to the Senate. The other five inherited the money. They are basically glorified trust babies. On the whole, Republican senators are wealthier than Democratic senators. The median for the Republican caucus is $5.7 million. For the Democrats it is $2.9 million. Poverty stricken they are not.
One might legitimately ask whether a group so far removed from the experiences of ordinary Americans should be writing the laws and setting the policies that affect the whole country. Over the whole country, only 7% of the people are millionaires. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said: "The Senate is packed with multimillionaires, and the fact is some of them have lost touch with the real world challenges faced by Americans all over the country. It is part of the reason that we have a tax system that favors people who make money off of money and penalizes those who earn a paycheck through hard work. We need to change that."
The senator who is furthest from his constituents financially is Justice. The median household net worth in West Virginia is $18,000. Unlike most senators, Justice does not live in D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. Despite all his money, he doesn't have a house in D.C. or those states. Instead he lives in Lewisburg, WV, and sometimes stays there for days at a time. When he is needed for a vote, he flies in on his private jet, which takes 40 minutes. Justice says that he stays in West Virginia much of the time to stay in close contact with his constituents so he can represent them better. In reality, he didn't really want to be a senator, was 72 when he ran, and did so only because the NRSC begged him to do so after Joe Manchin called it quits. He is not really interested in Senate work although he is on the Senate Energy Committee and tries to do what he can to support Big Coal.
It is a self-perpetuating cycle, in part because it costs millions of dollars to run for the Senate. People who don't have to work and who can toss $5 million of their own money into the pot without noticing that it is gone, clearly have a massive advantage over someone who works for a living.
It can be done, but is rare. There are about a dozen senators whose personal net worth is less than the median household net worth of their states.
Educationally, the Senate is also unrepresentative of the country. Every senator except Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has at least a bachelor's degree and 82% have a graduate degree. Fifty-one have a J.D., five have an M.D., four have a Ph.D., and 22 have a master's. It is a pretty elite bunch in multiple ways. (V)