LegiStorm

A Republican legislative director has moved to Deutsche Bank ahead of her boss's scandal-induced retirement.

Laura Weldon joined the German multinational investment bank's D.C. office as vice president for U.S. public affairs. She most recently worked for Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas), who dropped his reelection bid in March after admitting to an extramarital affair with woman that British tabloids dubbed the "ISIS bride."

Weldon has also worked for then-Reps. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) and Scott Rigell (R-Va.).

Three out of every five of this session's freshman representatives and nearly all freshman senators have added at least one lobbyist to their staff, according to LegiStorm data.

Eight of the 117th Congress's nine senators - all but Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) - have hired former registered federal lobbyists to their personal and/or committee offices. Among 72 House freshman, at least 42 have hired ex-lobbyists to their payrolls.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who previously served in the House, has hired five lobbyists since moving to the Senate in 2021. Freshman Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), as well as Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.), have hired least three lobbyists apiece.

Roughly three percent of current staff across the entire House and Senate have previously registered as federal lobbyists or foreign agents. This count includes district staff.

Compared to Republicans, congressional Democrats are spending more of their recess holding town halls. But that doesn't mean they're getting more face time with constituents, with more Democrats holding events behind the safety of their phones.

Democrats have scheduled 107 town halls for the August recess, according to LegiStorm data. Half are in person; the rest are mostly by telephone.

Republicans, meanwhile, are hanging up their phones and going face-to-face with constituents. The GOP is hosting four-fiths of their 94 town halls in person - many without any apparent COVID-19 precautions.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) takes home the gold for this year's highest number of recess town halls. He's holding 15, all in person, according to LegiStorm data.

Rep. Ruben Gallego's (D-Ariz.) top staffer has landed at the vice president's office.

Grisella Martinez joined Kamala Harris's team this month as director of legislative affairs. Martinez had served as Gallego's chief of staff since last year.

Martinez was previously a lobbyist for the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Immigration Forum and spent five years working for then-Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.).

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill undergraduate alumnus who heads to the Hill is just as likely to work for a Republican as a Democrat. But when it comes to turning out congressional staffers, other schools have a far more partisan split.

Current staffers who hold bachelor's degrees from Hillsdale College, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Liberty University, Oklahoma State University, Boise State University and the University of Wyoming virtually all work for Republicans, according to LegiStorm data.

Pomona College, Santa Clara University, Barnard College, Swarthmore College, Mount Holyoke College and Hampton University produce staffers who are almost all Democrats.

Brown University produces the most partisan crop of staffers of any Ivy League school, with more than 93% of its alumni on the Hill working for Democrats.

The University of South Florida, Bucknell University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Xavier University, the U.S. Naval Academy, California State University Fresno and the University of North Texas join the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in producing even mixes of Republican and Democratic staffers.