The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful People
Age: 25
Hometown: Chicago
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Married
Forget the Loaded Potato Skins. Max Engling was surely the best thing to come out of an Indianapolis TGI Friday’s, where he was waiting tables when a diner with ties to the modeling industry discovered him.
That’s right — Engling, a staff assistant for the House Administration Committee, is a ringer. He modeled for three years before quitting in 2011 to pursue a career in politics. During that time he could be seen in print-ad campaigns for Kohl’s, Carson Pirie Scott, Sears and American Crew, among others, and he also did a commercial for Subway.
In the end, Engling liked the money but felt unfulfilled by the work. He had earned a political science degree from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and decided it was time to use it.
{mosads}“You felt like you weren’t creating anything,” he says of modeling. “Your time wasn’t necessarily going to a good cause.”
But Engling had a cache of altruistic works going into the beauty industry. He took time off between high school and college to volunteer in South Africa and Mozambique, working in AIDS orphanages and building schools. He’s also spent three weeks helping out in an orphanage and safe house in Kiev, Ukraine.
Upon arriving in Washington in February 2011, Engling quickly secured a paid internship on the committee and was promoted to staff assistant three months later. He now helps run the congressional internship program for individuals with intellectual disabilities, one of his most gratifying duties.
Engling’s days are long. After leaving Capitol Hill, he heads to Ruth’s Chris Steak House, where both he and his wife, Kelcey, wait tables. This leaves little time for workouts, but he tries to get to the gym once or twice a week. Otherwise Engling likes to spend his free time traveling around the region with his wife to check out Mount Vernon, Monticello and other historical sites; fishing; playing basketball; and reading.
– Kris Kitto
Age: 27
Hometown: Woodbridge, Va.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Engaged
Kourtney? Kim? No, it’s Carolyn. She may look like a Kardashian — and she has a similarly tongue-twisting last name (it’s uh-MEER-pash-aye-ee) — but this special assistant to Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) is no socialite.
“I’d much rather be sitting at home in sweatpants, hanging out,” Amirpashaie says, explaining that she doesn’t go to many of the receptions and social gatherings so common on Capitol Hill.
But that doesn’t stop people from telling her she looks like a certain reality-television star. Just recently, she was helping her fiancé pick out his tuxedo for their August wedding when one of the store’s clerks told her she looked like a Kardashian sister.
{mosads}“I’m just like, ‘Thanks?’ I guess it’s the Middle Eastern thing.”
Amirpashaie’s father was born in Tehran, Iran, and met her mother, a central-Pennsylvania native, while the two were studying for graduate degrees at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. Her family also teases her about the resemblance to the Kardashian clan.
She loves them for it, though, and for their many other differences. Amirpashaie and her mother are conservative, while her dad and older sister, Kathryn, are liberal. Although she prefers a calm, politics-free family meal, Amirpashaie credits the ongoing dialogue and diversity of thought for making her who she is.
“[My parents] pushed my sister and me to be our own people and do what we wanted,” she says.
As it turned out, both girls fell in love with soccer and ended up competing against each other at rival colleges, Carolyn at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Kathryn at University of Mary Washington. When their teams would go head to head, their father would sit in the middle of the stands. Amirpashaie now plays in two adult leagues, and her father still attends every game.
She’ll be suspending play soon, though, for her wedding next month at a Virginia vineyard.
– Kris Kitto
Age: 24
Hometown: Tallahassee, Fla.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Boyfriend
Kristen Callaway is a Tallahassee girl with a taste for the cosmopolitan. She grew up playing soccer in Florida’s state capital, which she says feels a lot more like southern Georgia, and even went to church with Bobby Bowden, Florida State University’s legendary football coach.
These days Callaway, a legislative assistant to Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), likes to visit Manhattan on the weekend to stroll through Central Park or go clubbing in the Meatpacking District with her boyfriend of five years. Her dream is to live in London for a year or two. She studied there for a semester in college and says it feels safer and cleaner than the Big Apple.
She lives in southeast Washington, a few blocks from the Nationals’ ballpark. Callaway likes to invite friends over to go to games but wouldn’t call herself a baseball fan.
{mosads}“Who’s the guy who’s 19?” she says when asked about her favorite player.
Kristen grew up Southern Baptist and says religion still has a big influence on her life.
“Faith is what motivated me to get into politics,” she says. She’s happy to work for a boss who she says cares about the poor, noting that the congressman is part of a conservative anti-poverty initiative with the Heritage Foundation.
In her free time she likes to hang out with friends and shop, the latter “probably more than I should,” she says with a laugh.
Her dad is a longtime transportation lobbyist who worked for former Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.), and she’s following in his footsteps by handling transportation issues as part of her portfolio.
She’s looking forward to getting away to Europe during the August recess. Her boyfriend surprised her by planning a weeklong trip to Spain and Italy, stopping at Valencia, Florence, Rome and Corsica.
“I’m so thrilled!” she says.
She’s also thrilled that Congress finally struck a deal on the transportation authorization bill and her work hours can return to normal.
— Alexander Bolton
Age: 28
Hometown: Fier, Albania, and Charleston, S.C.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Dating
It’s probably a good thing other members of Julian Malasi’s family didn’t follow him to Washington. Otherwise, he might have had some stiff competition on the 50 Most Beautiful People list — from his identical twin brother.
The multilingual 28-year-old policy issues manager for the American Chemistry Council, who moved from Albania to Charleston, S.C., as a teen, says having a spitting image of himself, in the form of his brother, Euclid, has sometimes gotten him into trouble.
As a Spanish and international-relations major at the University of South Carolina, Malasi remembers innocently waiting for an elevator one day when a young woman approached him.
{mosads}“She [said], ‘You act like you don’t know me.’ I was like, ‘Um, I don’t know you.’ ”
Things quickly got worse.
“She’s like, ‘You’re such a jerk!’ then leans over and slaps me,” Malasi recalls.
“I said, ‘I have an identical twin brother,’ and she’s like, ‘Yeah, right.’ ”
When he’s not being mistaken for his twin by furious females, you can probably catch Malasi lacing up his sneakers for a run with his roommate’s dog, Rhett Butler, near his Logan Circle abode. “It’s an addiction,” he says. “If I don’t run at least two or three times a week, I feel like there’s something missing.”
Another thing he’s missing: a running partner. Despite being on the receiving end of some unfortunate cases of mistaken identity, Malasi says he wouldn’t mind his same-aged sibling making the move from the Palmetto State to the Federal City.
Although the twin brothers are competitive, Malasi admits that Euclid’s a better soccer player. He then quickly adds with a smile, “But I’m a better runner.”
— Judy Kurtz
Age: 34
Hometown: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Political party: Independent
Relationship status: Married
If everything had gone as planned, Warren Wright, a military fellow in Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) office, would be flying helicopters and relaxing in Southern California with his wife and kids right now. But two years ago, opportunity came knocking.
Wright, a helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard, had been stationed in Kodiak, Alaska, for two years, and it was time for his reassignment. Pressured by his peers, the aviator applied for a congressional fellowship but did not expect to advance past the first round of interviews.
“When they called me for the final interview, I was shocked,” he says. “I got the call and I literally hopped on the next plane to D.C. I had to buy a suit at the Men’s Wearhouse before I got on the plane.”
{mosads}Wright became obsessed with flying as a child after he saw “Top Gun.” After graduating from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, he entered flight school and quickly became a Coast Guard helicopter pilot.
“Originally, I had no intention of working on the Hill,” he says. “When I was in high school, all I very much knew was that I liked playing sports, and when I left, I wanted to go into the military and fly.”
Giving up flying, Wright says, was one of the hardest things about moving to Washington. The aviator officially lost his wings on Jan. 1, a day he says was “very sad.”
Wright says his time in the nation’s capital has opened his eyes to new career paths. He recently applied to the military’s Judge Advocate General program and hopes to practice law in the Coast Guard fleet.
But if law school doesn’t work out, Wright says he’d be more than happy to return to the Coast Guard for a cushy assignment in Southern California.
— Zach Bergson
Age: 25
Hometown: Greenville, S.C.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
For Marian White, coming to Capitol Hill was a bit like returning home.
The South Carolina native’s parents met nearly three decades ago while working for members of the state’s congressional delegation — her dad worked for a Republican, and her mom for a Democrat.
White tries to carry on their torch of bipartisanship.
{mosads}“I have a lot of friends who are on both sides of the aisle, so getting to know them and other people’s viewpoints has been really great,” she says. “Some of my very best friends are Democrats.
“The Hill is a funny place, because when it comes to friendships, you just put your political views aside and respect each other.”
After graduating from Furman University with a degree in political science and Asian studies, White came straight to Congress to be then-Rep. Gresham Barrett’s (R-S.C.) scheduler and staff assistant. After nearly three years there, she became a staff assistant for the House Judiciary Committee’s Republicans.
But White has “hit the wall” of her political ambition. In the fall, she plans to move to Boston to pursue a master’s degree in marketing and advertising at Emerson College. White says the move is an example of a motto she tries to follow in life.
“Never be afraid to try new things and pick up and move,” she says. “It’s not like you’re obligated to just do one thing. That’s the beauty of America — you can do whatever you want to do.”
When White isn’t cooking some of her renowned South Carolinian cobblers and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner parties with friends, she likely has her nose buried in the pages of a good murder mystery.
But even after reading so much of the genre, White doesn’t have much confidence that she’d make a good crack detective able to solve a murder.
“I’d probably be the poor innocent victim,” she says with a laugh.
— Jordy Yager
Age: 24
Hometown: Asheville, N.C.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
Alyssa Dack caught the political bug early, which didn’t always make for smooth sailing growing up. In grade school, she recalls begging her parents to let her stay up to watch the 1996 Clinton-Dole debates.
It didn’t end well.
“Apparently I pitched quite the fit when I was told I had to go to bed,” she says with an almost-guilty smile.
{mosads}Sixteen years later, Dack, Rep. Mike McIntyre’s (D-N.C.) outreach coordinator, still has the bug — and the rebellious spirit. From Republican roots, she’s emerged a Democrat.
“I was just really stubborn and really determined to think for myself,” she says of being the black sheep.
Dack praises her hometown of Asheville, N.C., for encouraging her independence. There, she says, “It’s all about being who you are, [because] if you don’t, you stick out like a sore thumb.”
Happily single, the 24-year-old says the space makes it “easier to learn who you are.”
“You have to take that risk of being on your own a little bit,” she says.
A graduate of Duke University, where she studied public policy, journalism and English, Dack says Capitol Hill caters well to her interest in combining communications and public service. It’s also been a lesson that you don’t have to go overseas — she’s spent time in Turkey and Italy — to discover new worlds.
“You come out of college and you think you’ve figured out how to do everything, and then you come to a place like this and realize you don’t really know as much as you thought,” she says. “I felt like I had gone back abroad.”
Outside of work, Dack plays tennis and hikes, with a particular fondness for treks to Old Rag, the rugged peak in Shenandoah National Park. She’s also a “West Wing” fanatic, known for watching her favorite episodes upwards of 10 times.
Friends, at such moments, “leave me to my nerdiness,” she says.
— Mike Lillis
Age: 25
Hometown: Oshkosh, Wis.
Political party: Libertarian
Relationship status: Single
Washingtonians have never been known for their acute attention to fashion, which might explain why few locals recognize former reality television star Samantha DeZur.
In 2009, DeZur, now the Education Finance Council’s vice president of communications, starred in the Style Network’s show “Running in Heels,” which followed the lives of three young women interning in New York for the fashion magazine Marie Claire. On the show, she butted heads with other interns, helped out at fashion shoots and even made “frenemies.”
“My dream was to work at a fashion magazine,” she says.
{mosads}But after her six-month stint, DeZur was turned off by the industry. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin and decided to pursue another passion: politics.
“It wasn’t for me,” she says. “Politics and that sort of thing always interested me, and I love fashion, too. But [fashion is] really more of a personal love. It’s not something that I want to be my entire life and career.”
When DeZur first came to Washington, she was working full-time at the Education Finance Council while attending graduate school at Georgetown University for a degree in public relations. She said her social life was nonexistent then, and has yet to blossom a year out of school.
Instead of going out to the bars, DeZur spends her time working out and reading.
“Working out is a big part of my life,” she says. “A big part of looking good every day is feeling good.”
DeZur also says that looking good isn’t about following cyclical fashion trends.
“You need to wear clothes that look good on your body,” she says. “The most important thing is to dress for your personality, who you are and your body type.”
— Zach Bergson
Age: 22
Hometown: Winterhaven, Fla.
Political Party: Republican
Relationship status: Declined to specify
In another time, Leslie Rath might’ve ridden into Washington on her horse.
The scheduler for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) owns and rides a warmblood thoroughbred cross named Blondie.
“She’s huge,” Rath says. “She’s about 17 hands, with buckskin [coat] and a blonde mane.”
{mosads}But you won’t find Rath and Blondie out for a leisurely stroll through the meadows. They go on traditional fox hunts through the Florida woods, along with a team of trained hounds and riders.
“That’s one of my favorite things to do,” she says.
Rath and company strap on helmets, traditional coats, pants, boots and vests, and then literally release the hounds.
“We follow the hounds in the morning — it’s really early in the morning — and the hounds follow the scent,” she says. “We don’t actually kill the fox; the whole thing is the chase. We jump jumps, natural jumps they build in the woods, or you can go over fallen trees, and it’s just all about the chase.”
Florida, it seems, has a dearth of foxes, so a typical chase in the Sunshine State involves coyotes, bobcats and panthers. Rath is presently keeping Blondie at a stable in Florida where a trainer works her out, but she hopes to find boarding for the horse in Virginia so the two can ride up here.
Outdoor activities have always come naturally to Rath. Her family has been in the Florida orange-growing business for almost 80 years. In fact, you might have seen them — Rath’s grandparents are pictured on the side of the Florida’s Natural orange juice carton.
“There’s a little thing called ‘Meet the growers’ they do to try and sell American products,” Rath says. “They put their picture on the side of the carton, and we always joke around: They’re on the side of the carton, but they’re not missing.”
— Jonathan Easley
Age: 56
Hometown: Stillwater, Minn.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Married
In terms of style, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has come a long way. For a 2008 story on congressional wardrobes, she told The Hill, “I’m a bottom-feeder when it comes to clothes shopping,” and described her strategy as going for “markdown, markdown, markdown, and then 80 percent off of that.”
But nothing about her presidential-campaign wardrobe looked bargain-basement. Not only did she hire Fox News Channel makeup artist Tamara Robertson for her 2012 bid, she also debuted a sleeker, trendier hairdo that inspired attention from the likes of the New York Daily News, which ran an article last year on women asking their hairdressers to replicate Bachmann’s look. She also made noise — literally — wearing a French manicure that clicked and clacked on the podiums of the GOP primary’s many debates. Bachmann was a chic version of her Capitol Hill self while on the national stage this past year.
{mosads}Since suspending her presidential campaign, the three-term lawmaker has settled back into a familiar role as a congressional agitator, President Obama attack dog and magnet for media attention. This month, she took some friendly fire from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and in the spring, she attracted headlines by first announcing that she had become a Swiss citizen and then later rejecting the citizenship, saying her allegiance lies solely with the United States. It might have looked like a stumble, but the episode fits in with Bachmann’s modus operandi. In 2009 she told The Hill, “Life around here is so fast, it’s like being in a blender and you hit frappé. You can’t look backward.”
Bachmann declined to be interviewed for this feature.
— Kris Kitto
Age: Born “in the early to mid-1970s”
Hometown: Oklahoma City, Okla.
Political party: Nonpartisan
Relationship status: Single
It should come as no surprise that Jessica Imotichey is one of the best-looking people in Washington; she’s spent much of her life involved with health.
Imotichey grew up the daughter of two Indian Health Service employees and kept up an active lifestyle. She ran track in high school and was also a member of the pom squad.
“I was a really diehard, ‘Bring it On’ cheerleader,” she says with a laugh. “[In] Oklahoma, it’s all about competitive cheerleading. I had switched to pom because I really liked dancing, and we were [a] national championship pom squad.”
{mosads}She eventually burned out on cheering and didn’t pursue it during her undergraduate days at the University of Central Oklahoma. After graduating with a degree in psychology, she enrolled in the University of Oklahoma to obtain a master’s in public health. Imotichey then did stints with the Department of Health and Human Services and Indian Health Service before settling into her current role as the Chickasaw Nation’s senior policy analyst. She is the tribe’s first analyst to focus on interagency issues.
Imotichey maintains a healthy lifestyle thanks to habits ingrained in her younger days.
“My grandmother always had big gardens,” she says. “Three huge gardens. One [was] dedicated just to melons. Honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon …
“My mom carried on that philosophy of eating healthy, eating fresh foods,” she says. “I grew up on fruits and vegetables, fresh from the backyard.”
She says she wasn’t blessed with that same green thumb.
“My son keeps telling me I need an urban garden,” Imotichey chuckles. “I have no urban garden.”
— Sterling C. Beard
Age: 44
Hometown: Nashua, N.H.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Married
Her last name might be a tongue-twister, but Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H., and AY-ott) could become a household figure by the end of the year, what with all the swirling vice-presidential speculation.
Like the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate (remember when no one knew how to pronounce Palin?), Ayotte is a young mom who’s relatively new to the national political scene. But the similarities end there. In her first two years in Congress, she has kept her head down and sought out bipartisan and bicameral allies, joining a weekly running group with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and captaining the congressional women’s softball team.
Though her colleagues Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have dominated the veep buzz, Ayotte has a few crown jewels of her own, having gained firsthand experience in small business as she helped her husband, Joe, start a landscaping and snow-removal company, and also serving as her state’s first female attorney general.
{mosads}Her easygoing demeanor and classic good looks might help America warm up to the freshman senator. In her online photo gallery, Ayotte looks at home in all situations — from a formal photo shoot with lawmakers decades her senior to a picture of her with a stuffed moose head.
Though it’s anyone’s guess whom presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney will tap to be his No. 2, Ayotte isn’t ruling out the possibility. She told the Boston Herald that she looks forward to debating Vice President Biden, if chosen.
“Certainly, debating Joe Biden would be quite enjoyable,” she told the newspaper this spring. “Let’s face it, he has got a very different vision of this country than I do.”
Ayotte declined to participate in an interview for this feature.
— Kris Kitto
Age: 25
Hometown: Seattle
Political Party: Democratic
Relationship status: Boyfriend
Nikki Santos’s career, love life and recreational activities are all intertwined in her Native American heritage.
“I was raised in a very traditional home with a very traditional Native American upbringing,” she explains. “I knew that I had an obligation to do something for Indian people and to work for them.”
There are approximately 2,000 people in her tribe, the Coeur d’Alene, who originated in Idaho’s northern panhandle and spread into western Montana and eastern Washington state.
{mosads}Santos majored in American Indian Studies at the University of Washington, and although she’s now an executive assistant to three lawyers at the National Indian Gaming Association, her people are never far from her mind.
“When you’re out here, you’re not out here for yourself — you’re out here representing your family and your tribe,” she says. “I carry that with me in everything I do.”
Santos represents her tribe at powwows across the country, where she performs traditional dances passed down by her family. The dress she wears was also worn by her grandmother and great-grandmother.
The Santos family dance is called the “high-step,” and it mimics how women used to walk through the fields — cautiously, so as not to step on anything dangerous. Santos regularly wins the smaller regional contests and in April was the second runner-up in the Miss Indian World Pageant for 18- to 25-year-olds.
Of course, there are fringe benefits to the festivals. Santos met her boyfriend of four years — a drummer at the powwows and a Senate Indian Affairs Committee staffer — at a Stanford University powwow, the largest student-run Indian gathering in the country.
To stay healthy, Santos couples all that time on her feet with a straight-edge diet.
“I eat healthy and I drink a lot of water. I try to stay away from coffee, alcohol and soda,” she says. “But I’m from Seattle, so sometimes I can’t help myself around coffee.”
— Jonathan Easley
Age: 30
Hometown: Atlanta
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
There isn’t much that throws Gina Ormand off her routine of regular exercise and healthy eating.
A devout runner since high school, where she was a member of the cross-country team, the campaign services director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says staying active is the best way to stay sane in her oftentimes frantic job.
But the rare occasions that she can’t get in her run, it’s usually for a good reason.
{mosads}In June, for instance, Ormand couldn’t make her regular miles because she was recovering from surgery — having donated a kidney to her ailing father. (Dad’s doing great now and returned to work in July.)
Or in 2005, when, as an aide to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Ormand took marathon shifts answering phones and coordinating help for constituents after Hurricane Katrina rocked the Gulf Coast. Then, she could only take cat naps under her desk.
“It was an emotional time for all of us,” she says. “Some of the calls we would get would be so scary because people would think of us as their lifeline.”
But it’s connecting with and helping people that drew the Tulane University graduate into political life. A self-described “stereotypical big sister,” Ormand says each stop of her Washington career — including stints on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and at Al Gore’s nonprofit global-warming organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection — was an opportunity to make new connections.
“I love the interaction with people,” Ormand says.
That also spills into her social life, where the Georgia native belongs to two separate book clubs and can regularly be found trying new restaurants in her Logan Circle neighborhood of the District.
“We like to go out — it’s really booming there — and catch up and try new places, as long as the wait time is under an hour,” Ormand says.
— Justin Sink
Age: 30
Hometown: Anaheim Hills, Calif.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
Getting her open-water scuba-diving certification has only added to Yvonne Hsu’s to-do list.
Hsu, a legislative assistant for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), got her certification in April and went diving off the coast of Taiwan. Now, she says, she’s already eager to plot out her next location.
“Friends say it’s like checking off your list — no, once you get it, you keep going,” Hsu says. “It’s to go to as many dive sites as possible.”
{mosads}Hsu isn’t just setting her sights on her next exotic location to dive — she’s already eyeing a new activity to tackle: outdoor rock climbing.
With a laugh that can fill a room, Hsu is constantly looking for new adventures, like the one that brought her from California to Washington in the first place. She didn’t go looking to move out here, but jumped at the opportunity while working in Schiff’s district office.
Hsu likes to stay active, she says, because she loves food.
But she says she hasn’t been able to find the variety of Asian food that she had back in California.
So she took to cooking.
“I like to try out things,” she says, “and because I can’t buy the food that I had back home, I end up cooking a lot more than I used to.”
Hsu says she doesn’t put too much effort into cooking for herself, but she and a group of friends all cook for one another. Just don’t call her a foodie.
“I don’t like that term,” she says.
Whether it’s cooking or scuba diving, Hsu says she lives by the philosophy that if you’re going to try something new, you should do it all-out.
“How else would you do anything?” she says.
— Jeremy Herb
Age: 46
Hometown: Greenwich, Conn.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Married
Buried in Rep. Jim Himes’s (D-Conn.) long list of accomplishments — he’s a former nonprofit executive, Wall Street banker, Rhodes scholar, Harvard rower and on and on — is this important nugget, at least for the purposes of the 50 Most Beautiful People list: He was once a model for Polo Ralph Lauren.
Now, we’re not talking Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)-level modeling — no Cosmopolitan centerfolds — but Himes did spend some time in college earning extra cash appearing in photos for the most American of clothiers. Famous fashion photographer Bruce Weber spotted him at a boathouse on the Charles River, and soon thereafter Himes went in front of the camera at a shoot on Martha’s Vineyard. The congressman laughs about it these days.
“I worked very briefly with a local agency on local stuff,” he says, “but I was not quote-unquote a model.”
{mosads}Himes is more likely to define himself as a politician simply trying to balance work, family and personal health. He feels strongly about reserving at least 30 minutes every day for a run on the National Mall or a swim in the House members’ gym. He continues to row every once in a while, too, at the river near his house. But on weekends Himes concentrates on making up for lost time with his wife and two daughters, ages 12 and 10.
Himes has taken a liking to Twitter, deciding early on that it’s a good platform to reveal the more informal daily goings-on of his life as a congressman. One recent tweet reported that the Democratic Cloakroom was out of Mountain Dew. “A nation at risk,” he wrote.
“People really hunger for an authentic voice out there,” he says. “It is a little risky, of course, but I have a little fun with it.”
— Kris Kitto
Age 24
Hometown: Bakersfield, Calif.
Political party: Republican
Relationships status: Boyfriend, Brian
Washington, D.C., is a very different place from California, as Amanda Muñoz knows all too well.
The press assistant from Bakersfield learned early on that words often mean different things to different people.
Back in 2009, she found herself interning at the Homeland Security Department. The end of the workweek was approaching, and she was told to dress down for casual Friday.
{mosads}“What are you wearing, Amanda?” she recalled one of her co-workers asking her.
“Sundress and sandals,” she answered. “You said it was casual Friday. This is casual for California.”
It was her Reese Witherspoon moment. Her co-workers had a good laugh at her expense, and from then on she was known simply as “California.”
Not to be put off by Washington’s buttoned-down culture, Muñoz returned last year to intern for her congressman, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and eventually landed her current job with Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.).
Muñoz is a serious woman, but doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s bright and cheerful and likes to sing — in public. Occasionally, you just might find her at Hill Country Barbecue in Penn Quarter belting out karaoke.
“I don’t think I’m good, but I definitely get up there and sing,” she says.
But most nights she prefers to just go home, relax and read.
“I’m like a 97-year-old woman — that’s actually the truth,” Muñoz says.
Her favorite book? To Kill a Mockingbird, which she first read in eighth grade and still reads every year.
“I love Scout. I love the story. I learn something new every time I read it,” she gushes.
— Emmanuel Touhey
Age: 27
Hometown: Dillingham, Alaska
Political party: Independent
Relationship status: Engaged
Mary Hiratsuka, an Alaskan Inuit and legislative assistant for Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), loves all things sealskin, and she’s not afraid to show it. During Washington’s chillier seasons, she can be seen toting her prized sealskin bag around the Capitol’s hallways.
Though Hiratsuka’s taste in animal furs might seem unique, the odds she overcame to land a job in Washington are even more out of the ordinary.
Her hometown, which she says is the “salmon capital of the world,” has a population of less than 2,500 people and is reachable only by plane. Despite geographical barriers, Hiratsuka managed to leave Dillingham, first living as a foreign exchange student in Brazil after graduating high school and later as a student at Dartmouth College.
{mosads}“My dad’s got the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had,” she says. “So when I left Alaska, all of the sudden I became a fish snob because the seafood there is so great.”
Hiratsuka got her start on Capitol Hill in 2003 as an intern for then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). After graduating from college, taking an internship in Greenland and working briefly as a lobbyist in Anchorage, she returned to Washington, landing in Young’s office.
Hiratsuka says she has enjoyed working for Young over the past three years because it has helped her stay in touch with her Alaskan and Native American roots. Change is on the horizon, though, with an upcoming move to New York with her fiancé and a pending career in finance.
“It’s tough to leave the Hill … especially because I’ve been involved in Alaskan politics for the last four years and it’s something that’s close to home,” she says. “To get out of that and to try something completely new in a different industry is scary, but exciting.”
— Zach Bergson
Age: 29
Hometown: Kensington, Md.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
Katie Ryan knows that most people who live in Washington don’t get to be roommates with a friend they’ve known since they were 3 years old.
But most people working on Capitol Hill don’t live 10 miles from where they grew up, either.
Ryan was raised in Kensington, Md., less than 10 miles from downtown Washington, and says it was an easy choice to come back home after attending College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
{mosads}“I plan on staying in this area,” she says. “I’m happy here, and it’s one of those things where if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If there comes a day that I’m bored and feeling like [I] don’t want to get up in the morning, then that’s when it’s time to change.”
Ryan hasn’t hit that point yet. She says she looks forward to her job every day as a professional staff member on the House Administration Committee. She’s worked there in a variety of roles, starting as an intern, for the past seven years.
Ryan says it’s not just the politics and her family that’s drawn her back to D.C. It’s also the balanced mix of exciting city life and quiet residential areas, she says.
She takes it in while running, whether it’s along the Potomac River on the weekends or in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run.
“I enjoy working out — you spend so many hours in the office. Whenever I get a chance, I try to go running outside,” she says.
Ryan thinks having a positive attitude is an attractive quality. Her secret: getting enough sleep — seven or eight hours per night.
Ryan says she’s single and looking, but she isn’t too concerned about that right now.
“It’s just about the right time and the right place, and it hasn’t happened yet,” she says. “When the timing is right, something will come along.”
— Jeremy Herb
Age: 28
Hometown: Atlanta
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: In a relationship
Though Stephanie Young considers Atlanta her hometown, she says she’s more of “nomad” than a true Georgian. And she’s on the move again. Young left her job as the communications director for the Congressional Black Caucus to join President Obama’s reelection campaign as the deputy communications director in Florida.
Young’s life on the road started when she was 8. Her father — a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church — moved the family to South Africa in 1992, shortly before the country’s first multiracial elections. Young says that’s where she got her first taste of politics.
“I got to see everything change firsthand,” she says. “My parents were very involved in the election in helping people to vote. I think that was when I really saw or found an interest in politics.”
{mosads}Young initially came to Washington as a journalist for PBS “Newshour.” But when Obama emerged as a candidate in 2008, she had a desire to re-engage with the side of politics that she first encountered in South Africa.
“I realized that I really had to be in a place where I could express myself,” she says.
Young’s first job in politics was at Rock The Vote. After the 2008 election, she worked as a press secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and eventually ended up at the CBC after the 2010 midterm elections.
Though Young says she’s excited for her new job and doesn’t know whether she’ll return to Capitol Hill, she says she’ll miss the sense of community among congressional staffers.
Capitol Hill is “definitely a family feeling — it almost feels like I’m in school again,” she says. “I don’t know if I’ve graduated, but the sky’s the limit when I get off the campaign.”
— Zach Bergson
Age: 23
Hometown: Burbank, Calif.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
Less than a year into her job as Rep. Ed Royce’s staff assistant and legislative correspondent, Melissa Medina had the California Republican “jumping for joy.”
Royce nominated Medina to be the Golden State’s Cherry Blossom princess this year. When she answered that she didn’t think she would get chosen, he brushed her concerns aside.
“Come on, Melissa, you’re like a ray of sunshine,” Royce told her.
{mosads}Not only was Medina chosen to be her state’s representative in the event, but the other princesses also elected her to be the contest’s Miss Congeniality.
“[Royce] was jumping for joy,” she says. “He was very proud.”
Medina came to Capitol Hill by way of the University of California, Berkley, where she double-majored in political science and business. Much before that, she had accrued quite the résumé, helping her ninth-grade show choir go to nationals, leading the school’s tennis team and becoming student government president.
“If I set my mind to something, I will make it happen, no matter what,” she says, “even after failure, because there’s a lot you can learn from failure, and it’s learning from failure and turning that into success that I think really creates character in a person.”
As for keeping up her good looks, Medina says she just tries to be happy, going for the occasional hike and maintaining her tennis strokes.
“I don’t work out,” she says with a bashful smile.
Her other tip? “The best way to showcase your beauty is your personality. Even if you’re having the worst day, having a good laugh automatically brightens up your eyes and makes you a more attractive person.”
Though she hasn’t met Prince Charming yet, that’s OK with Medina, who keeps an open mind about dating so long as the guy’s not “creepy.” Besides, she already has a relationship as she prepares for law school.
“I’m married right now — to the LSAT,” she jokes.
– Jordy Yager
Age: 23
Hometown: Clinton, Miss.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
If you think Jill Duckworth looks like a beauty queen, that’s because she is. In 2010, she won the beauty pageant in her hometown of Clinton, Miss., and was the runner-up to Miss Mississippi (try saying that three times fast), putting her just one spot away from competing in the Miss America pageant.
But it wasn’t an easy road to get there.
“I’m not going to lie — I did not want anything to do with pageants when I was younger,” says the staff assistant for Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.).
{mosads}Duckworth says she’s always been pretty and tall (she’s now 5’10”), so her mom pushed her to compete in pageants when she was young.
She’s now glad she did them, because they helped her overcome her shyness.
Duckworth also enjoyed showcasing her singing in the competitions. In the state pageant, she sang an operatic piece called “Love Is Where You Find It.”
She didn’t win the talent portion, but she did pull out a victory in swimsuit.
So what does it take to have the best body in the state? Duckworth swears by the CrossFit strength and conditioning program.
But she says the classes are so expensive in Washington that she mostly sticks to working out in the House gym.
Duckworth says she doesn’t go anywhere in public without first doing her hair and makeup.
“A few times I’ve gone to the grocery store, but I immediately regretted it,” she says. “It’s just a Southern thing.”
These days her singing is limited mostly to weddings. So many of her sorority sisters from the University of Southern Mississippi are getting married that she keeps getting roped into performing at their ceremonies.
Duckworth is also thinking about getting into musical theater in D.C. to keep her musical talents sharp.
But this Southern belle’s main complaint about D.C.?
“Sweet tea is just nonexistent,” she sighs.
— Brendan Sasso
Age: 25
Hometown: Atlanta
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Engaged
A 25-year-old engaged Southern gentleman, Zach Hunter returns home to Georgia, and people wonder why he’s walking so fast.
“It’s definitely more fast-paced up here,” says Hunter, who is planning a December wedding. “They look at me funny sometimes when I walk quickly down the sidewalk.”
The Republican has been in Washington for two years. He left Rep. Phil Gingrey’s (R-Ga.) office earlier this year to work in the communications office for the American Action Network and the American Action Forum, a job he calls “more 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. than 9 to 5.”
{mosads}Hunter had to get creative when proposing to his girlfriend last winter; he says she’s “so sharp, she sees everything coming.” He took a cue from Prince William, planning a Sunday hike so early in the morning that she had no clue what was coming. (Prince William proposed to Duchess Catherine two years ago in the remote Kenyan Highlands.)
Once Hunter leaves work, he often makes his way to Matchbox for a Lemon Quencher martini.
“I love the fact that everything in this city is so accessible,” he says. “You don’t have to make plans until the day you want to do something, if you don’t want to.”
Hunter lives behind the Supreme Court and keeps fit by attending the nearby Gold’s Gym. His daily routine includes eggs for breakfast, and he describes himself as a “shower-and-brush-my-teeth kind of guy.”
He ran track at the University of Georgia, and returns to his home state as often as he can to visit his brother and two sisters.
— Kate Oczypok
Age: 22
Hometown: San Rafael, Calif.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
A cup of coffee with Lindsey Cobia is a light affair until you realize you’re in the presence of a pro.
Not only has the Bay Area native managed a coffee shop single-handedly and scoured D.C. in search of the perfect cup — she’s also a competitive latte artist. To prove it, she’ll show you pictures of an impeccable dragon, drawn in milky foam, atop a creamy cup of Joe.
“I’m a coffee snob,” she says without apology. “One of the things I really miss [being in Washington] is having free coffee all the time.”
{mosads}It’s not Cobia’s only obsession.
The 22-year-old staff assistant for Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) is also a Harry Potter fanatic who’s dressed up as Draco Malfoy — Potter’s recurring adversary — for each and every movie premiere.
Cobia insists she chose the part because Malfoy’s platinum-white hair resembles her own, not because she identifies with his evil-doing, but that’s done nothing to stop her from role-playing in the theater — to both the embarrassment of friends (“I was calling the popcorn guy a muggle”) and the confusion of strangers.
After one eventful trip to the bathroom, she overheard an observer: “There’s this girl dressed up like Malfoy, and I think she’s certifiable.”
Born in Texas, Cobia has bounced around the map — including stints in South Carolina, New Jersey and Holland — before landing in San Rafael, Calif. The nomadic lifestyle has made the transition to D.C. an easy one, even if she sometimes misses the more laid-back nature of northern California.
“The people here keep me on my toes,” she says. “But sometimes I feel like people need a little California in them.”
To stay active, Cobia runs on the National Mall and bikes to work on her beach cruiser. She’s also fond of “treasure hunting” at yard sales and thrift stores.
— Mike Lillis
Age: 31
Hometown: Fairfax, Va.
Political party: Nonpartisan
Relationship status: Single
Mark Keightley might have grown up in the Washington area, but politics was far from this rugged outdoorsman’s mind when he decided to leave home and attend the University of Montana.
“Originally when I went to college, I was supposed to be a biophysics major, but there was some stupid lab at 7 a.m. on a Friday, and I was like, ‘Forget this,’ ” he says with a laugh.
Instead, a professor inspired him to focus on economics, and Keightley has pursued that passion ever since. He received his Ph.D. from the Florida State University, but after nine years away, he felt the pull to return home in 2008.
{mosads}After a brief stint as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve, Keightley joined the Congressional Research Service as a specialist in economic policy, concentrating on corporate and international taxation.
He still isn’t that interested in politics, but admits it’s entertaining to get the “bird’s-eye” view of both sides of the political aisle.
“It’s fun — you get to see a lot of the stuff that a lot of the public won’t see as far as what’s going on on the Hill,” he says.
And while you can take an economist out of the outdoors, it’s pretty tough to take the outdoors out of Keightley. The sportsman still makes time to go fishing, hunting and snowboarding, as well as hit the gym or play basketball daily when stuck in the city.
For a guy who was eager to leave and has little interest in Washington’s main draw, Keightley’s now pretty sure he’s back in Washington for good.
He recently bought a house in Alexandria, Va., just three doors down from his brother and sister-in-law.
“I really put [down] roots,” he says. “I think I’m here for the long haul.”
— Debbie Siegelbaum
Age: 29
Hometown: Los Angeles
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
If there’s one thing Hannah Kim knows how to do, it’s how to keep busy.
The communications director for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is a bit of a fitness nut.
She swims every morning from 6 to 7 a.m. On Saturdays, she plays tennis at the Capitol Hill Tennis Club. She’s recently taken up Zoomba on Sundays. And during the winter, she works out to her large collection of P90X DVDs.
{mosads}“[Exercise] is my only outlet to decompress, de-stress,” Kim says. “If I get home at 10 o’clock, I would still [be working out].”
She seems to have no trouble staying fit. Kim lives a few floors above a Whole Foods and describes herself as a pescetarian. Her parents nicknamed her “Shrimp Killer” after her love of seafood.
While in grad school at George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, she learned of the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, sponsored by then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). It piqued her interest and led to a new job.
“In our history books, I didn’t really learn much about South Korean history or the Korean War,” Kim says. “I really wanted to do something for Korean War veterans to recognize them … They didn’t get the fanfare that the WWII veterans received.”
She began lobbying for the bill and, as Rangel is a veteran of the Korean War, she targeted his office heavily (or, as she put it, “[bugged] the heck out of them”). In 2008, Rangel introduced a House companion bill, which was written into law in the next year. Her efforts so impressed Rangel’s staff that they offered her a job, and she’s been working for the veteran ever since.
— Sterling C. Beard
Age: 23
Hometown: Brookhaven, Pa.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: In a relationship
John Sonsalla decided to become a Washingtonian sight unseen — and hasn’t looked back since.
A history and politics junkie, Sonsalla decided to attend American University without having visited the campus.
“I wanted to be in D.C., in the heart of the action,” he says.
{mosads}He’s the first in his family to graduate from college and says the leap of faith paid off.
“The second I got down here, I really just fell in love with the city,” he said. And except for one summer, he hasn’t left since.
The policy assistant at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, who calls politics a “24/7 business,” admits that “even when I’m not on the clock, a lot of time is spent in political circles,” attending happy hours and events on Capitol Hill.
That’s on top of long hours at the office, working for clients from Comcast to the Girl Scouts.
“Being in D.C., you meet a lot of people with well-established backgrounds,” Sonsalla says. “I’m from a hardworking, blue-collar family. I don’t have a lot of family connections. But I think hard work kind of overcomes that. It’s just that ‘no excuses’ mentality.”
This dedication extends to health and fitness. Even two ACL-reconstruction surgeries weren’t enough to keep him benched.
“My philosophy is: always active,” he says. “Relaxing to me is being active.”
In addition to morning trips to the gym, Sonsalla enjoys playing pickup basketball and tennis, hiking and going for runs by the water.
Insisting that it’s more about doing something every day than doing anything in particular, he doesn’t see much of a need for fitness trends like the Paleo diet or CrossFit.
“I don’t have to pay someone $200 a month to tell me how to work out,” he insists.
So what’s the key to a healthy body and mind?
“It’s just keeping yourself motivated,” he said.
— David Kaner
Age: 23
Hometown: New Bern, N.C.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: In a long-term relationship
Ryan Mills could easily pass for a member of one of the nation’s greatest political dynasties. With his brown hair, piercing blue eyes and golden tan, he’s a dead-ringer for Bobby Kennedy.
Mills is often told of the resemblance, but his interest in the Kennedys goes far beyond the superficial. As a child, he became intrigued with the history of the famous family, which triggered an ongoing fascination with politics.
“I’m not a fan of their policies; I just think they are interesting,” he says. “And once I got into the Kennedys, I wanted to see the opposing views, so then I got into [Ronald] Reagan for a while.”
{mosads}Mills’s interest never waned. He received a political science degree from East Carolina University, going on to intern for the Charles Koch Institute and fundraise for Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa).
Earlier this year, he joined government-affairs firm Berman and Co. as a development associate. It’s all part of the plan for Mills, who hopes to eventually take his experience on the national political stage back home.
“I’m on the 10-year plan: 10 years and then get out,” he says of his goal to return to North Carolina to work in state politics and, someday, run for office himself.
While Mills puts in long hours on the job, he makes sure to leave extra time every day for exercise, be it biking, weightlifting or trail-running. It’s nothing new for the avid athlete, who played baseball, basketball and soccer in high school.
That doesn’t mean he was prepared for the news he was named to the 50 Most Beautiful People list. In fact, Mills kept it relatively hush-hush.
“It was pretty out of the blue … I didn’t want to tell people and then not make the cut,” he jokes.
— Debbie Siegelbaum
Age: 24
Hometown: Dover, Mass.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Girlfriend
Derek Khanna might have mastered his way around Washington and made it into Georgetown University Law School, but there’s one challenge he has yet to successfully tackle: coordinating his wardrobe.
It’s a problem, the professional policy staffer for the House Republican Study Committee says, that’s plagued him since he was young.
“When I was little, in high school, I would ask my sister, ‘Does this match?’ ” he says. “And she would say, ‘Oh yeah, that matches. You’re good to go.’ And then I’d go to school and people would be like, ‘That totally doesn’t match.’ And then my sister would … make fun of me and be like, ‘Yeah, why would you wear that? That’s totally stupid.’ ”
{mosads}But after completing his college degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and working in the office of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Khanna became savvier about how to pick out his duds — he relied on the interns.
“I would come in with one tie and three reserved ties because I knew it wouldn’t match. And usually the response from the interns was, ‘None of those match, but this one clashes the least,’ ” recalls Khanna with a laugh.
Besides piles of neckwear options, you’re likely to find plenty of books and movies at the film buff and avid reader’s Capitol Hill abode. When he’s not in law school classes at night, the “low maintenance” D.C. resident works out every other day.
While Khanna can likely afford some finer threads as he works his way up the congressional career ladder, money still can’t help him figure out what to wear, he admits.
“I try to buy nice things, but I don’t know what works together.”
— Judy Kurtz
Age: 36
Hometown: Allentown, Pa., and Fairbanks, Alaska
Political party: Nonpartisan
Relationship status: Boyfriend
Libby Casey’s arrival in Washington four years ago as a correspondent for Alaska Public Radio was “baptism by fire.”
She was only two days into her new job when then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was indicted.
She barely knew her way around the city at that point. Casey remembers being in the Rayburn House Office Building when an editor called with the news.
{mosads}“I couldn’t even find the exit to the building,” she says. “I’m wandering in circles. Finally I find someone, I’m like, ‘How do you get out of here?’ ”
The hits kept coming for Casey, who is now a producer and host of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” Soon after the Stevens story broke, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced that then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) would be his running mate in the 2008 presidential election.
All this, and Casey was also dealing with an Alaskan wardrobe. She had only two suits when she arrived in Washington.
Friends staged clothing “interventions” to make her look more “lower 48” when she began appearing as a guest host on C-SPAN three years ago.
Casey went to Alaska for a summer as a 20-year-old backpacker before making it her home for more than 10 years. Now as a Washingtonian, she goes to barre and yoga classes, walks all around the city, drinks lots of water and eats vegetables from her own garden.
Casey also likes to try new things, which have included trapeze flying on the waterfront, hot yoga on Capitol Hill and rock climbing in Alexandria.
“When I work out I want to also have fun,” she says.
She says she has fully transformed into the “Washington version of Libby.”
— Geneva Sands
Age: 62
Hometown: Jersey City, N.J.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
Ron LeGrand hasn’t had just one successful career. When you look at his résumé, it appears he’s had dozens.
The counsel to the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security started out as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, conducting dangerous undercover investigations across the country.
He then received his law degree from Boston College and went to work for the Justice Department as a special narcotics prosecutor. Stints as counsel to the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control and the Senate Judiciary Committee followed in the late 1980s.
{mosads}In the early 1990s, LeGrand jumped to the private sector, working at Nabisco and AARP. In 2009, he returned to Congress to draft legislation related to human trafficking and domestic violence.
“I am incredibly blessed,” he says. “I don’t know how it happened. I’m just thankful it did.”
It’s just another humble statement from the tall, broad-shouldered gentleman with the infectious laugh. It’s not about the glory for LeGrand, but instead a remarkable call to serve, something he learned from his mother.
“I always try to live a life that would make her proud,” he says of the 88-year-old Jersey City resident. “I think we have a responsibility toward each other and toward the communities we are a part of.”
That’s a lesson he has also passed on to his six sons, one of whom recently joined the Air Force and shipped off to Afghanistan.
When LeGrand isn’t volunteering or serving on the boards of several charities, he squeezes in four to five gym sessions a week to stay in shape. But even with all his hard work and accomplishments, LeGrand was shocked when his name came up on the 50 Most Beautiful People list.
“It was a total surprise, because I’ve never considered myself in that category,” he says, warning he might blush. “It’s an honor. It’s something totally unexpected.”
— Debbie Siegelbaum
Age: 27
Hometown: Vienna, Va.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: In a relationship
Laura Froehlich is noticeably more comfortable talking about sci-fi, her family, her boyfriend and her job than answering questions about beauty.
Asked about her philosophy on health and looking good, she pauses, expressing disbelief at being a part of this year’s 50 Most Beautiful People list.
“Because I’m so beautiful,” she says, chuckling.
{mosads}Reminded that she made the cut, Froehlich searches for an answer.
“Eating well, taking care of yourself,” she lists slowly. “Don’t be an a–hole. Be a nice person and don’t take things too seriously.”
Froehlich studied corporate marketing at Virginia Tech but now works as an associate director of public policy at UBS.
At first she didn’t know if she was on the right career path, but her father, a 20-year veteran of the Navy and former nuclear submarine captain, would often bring her back down to Earth.
“I don’t know what your deal is,” he’d tell her. “Do you have nuke keys around your neck? Is anyone going to die today?”
Outside of work, Froehlich’s a sci-fi nerd, admitting a love for “Game of Thrones,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “Star Trek.” She’s also part of a Navy family; in addition to her father, her grandfather and brother are Navy men. Her boyfriend, Chris, is an F-18 pilot for the Navy.
The two were friends from childhood. But when he invited her to a Navy ball, their relationship got more serious, much to her surprise. Froehlich recalls packing business cards that night to hand out to single sailors. But the cards never came out.
“It was the most romantic date I’ve ever had,” she says.
They’ve been together since, and Froehlich recently returned from visiting him in Dubai, where he is stationed.
— Megan R. Wilson
Age: 52
Hometown: Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Married
Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) learned to sleep on demand when she was an ophthalmological intern at New York Hospital. She now counts on that skill to get the most out of the two naps per week that she allows herself — during the trips from her district to Washington and back.
“I kind of plan it out — ‘I’m so sleeping for these 45 minutes,’ ” she says. “I’m running on four, five, six hours [of sleep] a night. If it’s a six-hour night, it’s like, ‘Whoa, what did I do to deserve this?’ ”
Yet Hayworth has few complaints about her life as a lawmaker. The freshman member of Congress used the words “blessed,” “lucky” and “grateful” no fewer than 10 times in a conversation with The Hill, referencing her family, friends, staff and almost every other aspect of her world.
{mosads}Luck might not have much to do with her optimistic disposition. Hayworth, one of two female doctors in Congress, calls herself a nurturer and says she aspires to live out a mantra her mother instilled in her: “Cast your bread upon the waters; you pass this way but once.”
Evidence of that philosophy — which she summarizes as “Do good things” — lies in both the eye advice Hayworth offers to anyone in need and the oversized bag she lugs nearly everywhere she goes. It’s a running joke, she says, but the bag’s varied contents have come to the rescue on many occasions.
“Somebody had a splinter; I had tweezers,” she says.
Between that bag and her dedication to walking the stairs, Hayworth works in her exercise throughout the day. And she balances out her soft spot for chocolate — “It’s like the rebar in my food pyramid” — with daily doses of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and a multivitamin.
— Kris Kitto
Age: 31
Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: In a relationship
While it’s not a requirement to have a 1,000-watt smile to be a top lobbyist for the American Dental Association (ADA), it sure does help. Enter Jennifer Fisher.
Fisher made her way to D.C. in the same way many do — as a congressional intern, in her case for former Rep. (and former Democrat) Artur Davis (Ala.) in 2003. She eventually became one of his top advisers and developed an interest in access-to-healthcare issues. That led her to the ADA, where she’s been for the last five years.
On the side, Fisher runs FashionDelegate.com, a website focused on the intersection of fashion and politics inside the Beltway.
{mosads}Along with first lady Michelle Obama, Fisher’s style favorites include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.).
“Washington used to have sort of a dowdy dress code, but I don’t think it’s that way anymore,” she says. “Style can be just as important as all of the other factors that are in play in D.C.”
She practices what she preaches.
“When I lobby on Capitol Hill, you have to have some sort of a good presentation in order to sell your product,” she says.
Fisher describes her personal style as “conservative with an edge” but understands that D.C. is not New York or Los Angeles, and tailors her look accordingly.
“You can’t be completely wild with your style,” she says. “You still have to conform to the norm. But at the same time, add a pop of personality.”
She has more advice for her fellow Washingtonians.
All D.C. women should have a “simple shift dress” that fits seamlessly in the boardroom and the bar, she says.
For the guys, it’s all about the ties, Fisher says.
“Guys can have personality [with] their ties,” she says.
Whether a hack, flack or wonk, D.C. denizens need to look the part, Fisher says.
“Substance gets you in the door, [but] charisma carries the day in this town.”
— Carlo Muñoz
Age: 26
Hometown: Skowhegan, Maine
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
Hayley King wants to make something clear: She is not related to that other King from the Pine Tree State, even though her dad’s name, coincidentally, is also Stephen.
“It was actually on the Internet that our phone number and address were the writer’s,” King chuckles, “so for a while there we got some … interesting stuff.”
In fact, it was a connection with another famous Mainer that proved to be decisive for her career. Growing up, King’s neighbor was the state’s former senator, Margaret Chase Smith.
{mosads}“Being around this my whole life pushed me to look if Sen. [Olympia] Snowe [R-Maine] had any openings,” she says.
With her boss slated to retire in January, King is looking for a new role. The legislative correspondent certainly has more than her political experience to put on her résumé, including time spent teaching English in South Korea.
But despite having lived all over the map, she hopes to stay in Washington, a place she calls the “perfect medium” between Seoul and Skowhegan.
Although King enjoys spending free time going out with friends, she’s also dedicated to keeping active. A self-described tomboy as a child, she’s been an athlete her entire life, and is proud to report that her high school has won almost every state championship in field hockey since her first year on varsity.
She’s also learned to love running and going to the gym, overcoming asthma in the process. Her high energy level and enthusiastic expressions have even earned her a unique nickname: Cricket.
While she likes playing sports, she has a true New Englander’s fanaticism for watching them, too.
“When the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, my co-worker and I decided right after we were going to buy tickets to go up for the parade,” she says, “and then ask our boss if we could have the day off.”
— David Kaner
Age: 28
Hometown: Wall Township, N.J.
Party: Republican
Relationship status: Married
Brian Bosak first pictured himself working on Capitol Hill while running a simple errand.
Before joining the office of Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), Bosak spent several months as an intern at the nearby Heritage Foundation.
One assignment from that time stands out in his memory.
{mosads}“I got to walk over a letter — it might have been an invitation — to then-Leader [John] Boehner’s [(R-Ohio)] office,” he says.
The delivery took him inside the Capitol building, down the ornate hallways and into the House Minority Leader’s suite for the first time.
“I remember thinking how special it was,” he says. “That was definitely one of my coolest experiences here, early on.”
Four and a half years later, Bosak is a legislative assistant handling business, financial and values issues for Pitts.
For fitness, he’ll occasionally play basketball or pick up a tennis racket. He also hits the gym several times a week with his wife, but emphasizes that his fitness routine is “low-key.”
“I don’t like to lift huge weights or anything,” he says, laughing and gesturing toward his lanky frame. “As you can tell, I’m not a big guy. I just try to stay fit and strong.”
Those gym visits happen in the morning, and Bosak says he bookends them with time devoted to his Christian faith.
“When I get back from the gym, I generally settle in with a cup of coffee and my Bible,” he says. “That’s the routine that gives me the most energy for the day.”
When it comes to the 50 Most Beautiful People list, Bosak is no stranger to the camera. His wife runs a small photography business and often calls on him as an impromptu model — a role he accepts with good humor.
“She’ll sometimes take me outside and have me pose in certain ways to take photos,” he laughs. “The things you do for love!”
— Elise Viebeck
Age: 23
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
If the cowboy boots don’t tip you off that Stephanie Stouffer is from Texas, it won’t take you long to figure it out after you start talking to her.
Whether it’s proclaiming her love for the Dallas Cowboys, cooking her signature enchiladas or discussing the intricacies of the energy industry, the 23-year-old client strategist for Engage says her Texan heritage informs just about every facet of her personality.
“Where I grew up, we’ve got the stockyards, and we’ve got cattle drives going through Main Street twice a day every day,” Stouffer says. “And that kind of really resonated with me as more of a down-to-earth vibe. It’s more wholesome.”
{mosads}In fact, her job developing Web strategies for clients like conservative super-PACs and energy companies grew indirectly from the ingrained Texas love for high school football. Stouffer went to the University of Missouri’s journalism school with dreams of becoming a sideline reporter.
“I was really interested in broadcast as a career, and I thought I wanted to be the next Erin Andrews, because I’m a really big Cowboys fan,” she says.
Working for a local television station’s “Friday Night Fever” high school football show, Stouffer pioneered a social-media outreach program. After graduating — and inspired by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) flirtation with a White House run — she looked to do similar work for political clients in Washington.
Stouffer even credits her Texan values for landing her a spot among the 50 Most Beautiful People. In addition to running every morning and staying away from junk food — allowing for the “occasional splurge” — Stouffer says she looks her best when she sticks to her roots.
“I try to look as natural as possible, and I don’t like to wear a lot of makeup and have it caked on,” she says. “I think the au natural look is the way to go, and I think that comes from where I grew up, the sort of simple Southern beauty.”
— Justin Sink
Age: 33
Hometown: La Crosse, Wis.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Engaged
Erik Olson has a certain zen quality, though you wouldn’t know it from his résumé.
He started as a campaign worker for Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and is now Kind’s chief of staff, at age 33.
Olson also mentors kids in D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood. He keeps fit with regular gym visits. And he’s a practicing Buddhist — something of a rarity in the rough-and-tumble world of politics.
{mosads}Olson says he once argued with one of his college professors about whether the two worlds can mix.
“He said it’s not possible to be a Buddhist and in politics, but I insisted that it is,” he says.
Olson added that his Buddhist practice gives him “extra energy to do more for others” and also helps him manage the pressure of working on Capitol Hill.
“I’d like to think I’m less stressed than most people around here,” he says. “Buddhism is about working on your own mind and keeping yourself at peace. It’s also about helping others, which is what motivates me in this job.”
Olson meditates for 30 minutes every morning after rising at 4:30 or 5 a.m., and follows that routine by hitting the gym.
“That’s the perfect way to start the day,” he says. “You do a little bit for your mind, you do a little bit for your body. You feel good, you’re well-rounded, and you’re ready to hit the pavement at work.”
He hesitates to describe himself as “beautiful,” but he does have a special connection to The Hill’s annual list: his fiancée, Jess Smith, was featured in 2007.
The two met planning a campaign rally in Wisconsin and didn’t see each other again until 10 years later, almost to the day.
“She popped up in my daily eHarmony email,” Olson says. “We had a drink Nov. 18, got engaged a year later, and are getting married a year after that.”
— Elise Viebeck
Age: 26
Hometown: Alexandria, Va.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: “Happily taken”
Jake Terrell has a secret lunchtime hobby.
A few times a week, he quietly slips out of Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-Va.) office, changes out of his suit and takes off running to the National Mall, where he doles out high-fives to the eighth-grade schoolchildren he encounters along his two- to three-mile run.
“I am always full of energy,” he says, knees jiggling under the table. “And whenever I exercise, I get more energy.”
{mosads}Terrell does longer runs on the weekends in preparation for a spring triathlon, but says he runs during the workday so that he has time to go home and play guitar — something he picked up in December.
“I’ve been playing a lot of reggae recently, and a lot of Bob Marley,” he says. “I get really fidgety unless I have something to do.”
So fidgety, in fact, that he occasionally has to take a break from his job as a legislative correspondent to walk laps around the Russell Senate Office Building.
“I meet a lot of people that way,” he jokes.
Hailing from Alexandria, Va., Terrell feels at home working for a Virginia senator. Terrell’s family has been in Alexandria for three generations; his father was a member of the first graduating class from T.C. Williams High School, a story featured in the film “Remember the Titans.”
“He said it was nothing like the Disney movie,” Terrell says. “No riots, no knocking over school buses, none of that.”
Terrell’s family history in Virginia runs even deeper. His great-great-great-grandfather was a Union solider during the Civil War, and the family recently donated his musket to the Manassas Museum.
Since Webb will be retiring this November, Terrell is looking for a new job, preferably one that will keep him in D.C. and in touch with his Virginia roots.
— Megan McCourt
Age: 28
Hometown: Palo Alto, Calif.
Party: Democratic
Relationship status: “Taken”
Allison Rose must be used to setting nerds’ hearts aflutter. This Stanford University graduate and legislative director for Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) loves to read science fiction and fantasy like the “Game of Thrones” book series (now a hit HBO show). Taking a controversial stand, she claims the series is superior to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, including his legendary “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
She’s also a big fan of the zombie apocalypse genre — in books and in TV shows like “The Walking Dead.” But asked to name her guilty pleasure, she picked the sex-filled vampire show “True Blood.”
Rose says she’s not looking for pleasure reading that reminds her of the political battles and wonky policymaking of Capitol Hill.
{mosads}“I look for escapism,” she says. “We do a lot of actual reading here. When I go home … I want something to take me to a different place.”
But Rose, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, bucks the traditional nerd image with her love for the outdoors. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a kid, so her family instead would go on hikes and camping trips.
Rose bikes to work every day and enjoys long rides through Rock Creek Park. That might seem like plenty of exercise for some people, but she stays fit by also hitting the House gym every day.
She says she’s “not much of a fashionista” and doesn’t stress about her appearance.
“I shower, I wash my hair, I try to put on mascara and make sure my clothes match,” she explains.
When she’s camping, she says doesn’t care about her appearance at all. As long as she has bug spray and deodorant, she’s fine.
“If you’re going camping with somebody, they probably know what they’re getting themselves into and how we’re all going to look and smell when it’s over,” she says.
— Brendan Sasso
Age: 65
Hometown: Newport News, Va.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
If “policy” were an emotion, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) would be one of the most expressive people on Capitol Hill. When asked in a recent interview how he maintains his health and sanity amidst the whipsaw life of a member of Congress, he provides a four-minute answer on the budget and sequestration.
Other topics he brings up in a conversation that’s ostensibly about Bobby Scott the Person: the country’s incarceration rate, the rhetorical difference between a tax credit and a mandate, a February 2011 Judiciary Committee hearing, and the war on drugs.
One possible conclusion is that Scott is guarded. Another: This is who he is.
{mosads}The congressman listens to books on tape during his three-hour drive to and from his district, but we’re not talking “Cold Mountain.” Titles range from Thurston Clarke’s “The Last Campaign,” about Bobby Kennedy’s presidential bid, to Alex Kotlowitz’s “There Are No Children Here,” a story of two boys growing up in a Chicago public housing project, and Robert Draper’s “Do Not Ask What Good We Do,” on the rise of the Tea Party.
When Scott takes a break from his heady pursuits, he plays tennis, squash — on and off with Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) — and poker (legally, he adds). Last year he was the only member of Congress to advance to the final table of a charity poker tournament.
Scott also goes to the movies every few weeks. He’s not picky; he’ll see whatever’s popular, because “that way you can talk to people.”
But you get the feeling that anything that takes him out of the policy weeds can be described in the same way he characterizes his interest in film.
“It’s just a diversion,” he says.
— Kris Kitto
Age: 24
Hometown: Starkville, Miss.
Political party: “Moderate”
Relationship status: In a relationship
Shelley New, a research assistant at the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, got the “D.C. bug” while interning for former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) as an undergraduate, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Originally, New planned on returning to Capitol Hill after three years at Seton Hall Law School. After a year of classes, however, the research assistant knew it wasn’t for her.
“With law school, the whole interpretation of the law and application of the law is interesting,” she says, “but here they make the laws — it’s much more hands-on.”
{mosads}Luckily for New, coming back to Capitol Hill was a painless process — her first interview, at the Small Business Committee, landed her a job as a staff assistant. Recently, she was promoted to research assistant.
New says she has no plans to return to law school anytime soon. For now, she’s content with her work in the Senate.
“One thing I really enjoy about the committee is we don’t have one specific set of constituents,” she says. “It’s cool to be able to reach out and talk to small-business owners from Utah, Maine and Florida, and all over the country.”
When New isn’t reaching out to small businesses, you can find her in the gym or competing with other Senate offices on the softball field.
She says her team — Snowe Business — placed her behind home plate as catcher because she’s “really bad.”
But New doesn’t let her degrading position bring her down.
“What I lack in skill and ability, I make up for in enthusiasm,” she says with a laugh.
— Zach Bergson
Age: 32
Hometown: East Longmeadow, Mass.
Political party: Nonpartisan
Relationship status: Single
Brynn Rovito is not afraid to dress sexy, even as a lawyer for the Senate sergeant at arms.
“People’s style in D.C. is different — they’re more conservative,” says Rovito, who has also lived in Hawaii and Brooklyn. “I’m not a Tory Burch-and-pearls type of person.”
These days she prefers black tank tops and jeans that complement her petite figure and direct personality. A few years ago, however, she was really into name-brand handbags, and her search for the latest must-have accessory lured her to Hawaii, where she discovered she could sell what she bought in a retail store at a substantial mark-up online.
{mosads}“I was meeting people in hotel lobbies and swapping handbags,” she recalls. “It was the early days of online selling. It was like the Wild West.”
The hot market eventually cooled, and Rovito decided to go to law school. A hometown connection with Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer led to an internship on Capitol Hill, and ultimately, a job.
Still, she could not resist the topsy-turvy allure of the private sector — in this case, the restaurant scene on 14th Street NW — and took a side gig as a bartender at Pearl Dive Oyster Palace, a trendy spot that is usually packed.
She has an easy-going personality that invites friendship, but guys who want her attention have to show more than bare-minimum courage.
“A lot of guys would leave numbers on credit card slips and say, ‘Call me,’ ” she says. “Come on — grow a pair!”
She ended up leaving Pearl Dive because the late weekend hours became too tiring. She quips her phone has since stopped ringing.
Rovito’s looking for a slower pace of life these days. She’s contemplating a move from her Adams Morgan apartment in the city to Virginia and plans to get a dog. After living for years with hipsters in trendy neighborhoods, she’s ready to give the suburbs a try — but pearls are still out.
— Alexander Bolton
Age: 36
Hometown: Kumasi, Ghana
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Married
Wearing a brilliant blue-and-gold shirt from her home country of Ghana, Regina Asante says she believes beauty starts within.
“I believe in loving all people, and when you have love, you’re able to show other people,” she says.
Asante came to the United States in 1997 to finish her schooling. She wanted to study to become a nurse but decided social work was a better fit.
{mosads}“I came to finish my education, but it wasn’t the way I thought it would be,” says Asante, who delivers mail to offices on the second floor of the Rayburn House Office Building.
She plans to resume her studies next year.
“I like to help people by counseling them, help them to get on the right path, help them get the right directions,” she says.
“I like my job right now — I mean, it pays the bills, and you get to meet great people on the Hill,” Asante says. “I believe you should wake up, come to work and do your best, help other people if you can, and just be the good person that you are. Show love to all people.”
Asante is looking to move up.
“If anyone is interested in hiring me on the Hill, that would be very nice,” Asante says. “I could help on foreign-policy issues.”
The devout Christian says she spends most of her free time at church volunteering, which sparked her new favorite hobby — makeovers.
“In my church we had a Valentine’s Day dinner, and we gave a lady a makeover,” she says. “I told her to do her eyebrows, how to change her hairstyle, put on makeup, things like that.”
Asante also enjoys going to the movies. A recent favorite is Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds.”
— Ramsey Cox
Age: 24
Hometown: Champaign, Ill.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: In a relationship
Though Ben Halle has found his way in Washington, D.C., he never forgets where his home is.
The policy aide for Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) keeps a map of Illinois taped to his desk to remind him of where he came from. Halle’s hometown of Champaign is clearly marked, along with a paw print sticker for his dog back home.
After graduating from the University of Iowa, Halle came to the capital looking for a job in education. He found an internship with an education policy group and then started working in Smith’s office.
{mosads}Halle says his daily routine revolves primarily around one thing: food.
“I plan my days around what I’m going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Halle says. “Eating is probably the thing I look forward to the most.”
Halle also loves happy hours. He recently learned that one of his favorite restaurants, St. Arnold’s, has half-price mussels during happy hour, which he says “is awesome.”
But Halle has developed a love for running that counterbalances his love of food.
“I didn’t have any friends when I first moved out here, so that’s when I took up running,” Halle says. “I didn’t have anything else to do, and I figured I might as well do something healthy.”
As for his philosophy on health and hygiene, Halle has some unconventional advice.
“In college my friends used to make fun of me for not showering every day,” he says. “So my tip would be to shower only when you really feel like it.”
Halle says his style isn’t very high-maintenance either. He likes to go with a “laid-back, nice, presentable” look, and attributes his style and attitude to his Midwest roots.
“Compared to out here, people [in the Midwest] aren’t so concerned about what you do and who you know,” he says. “That’s more my breed.”
— Jennifer Smola
Age: 26
Hometown: Paducah, Ky.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Girlfriend
Washington politics might run through Caleb Smith’s veins, but Nashville is flowing through his closet.
The 26-year-old new media director for the House Financial Services Committee embraced the trendy fashion during his freshman year of college in the Music City, and he never let go.
That doesn’t mean he has a wardrobe heavy on cowboy boots — though he owns a pair and swears he gets strange looks when he occasionally dons them for a night out.
{mosads}Instead, his wardrobe was developed through “trial and error,” and is punctuated by layers — vests and jackets — combined with a mix of eye-catching belt buckles and colorful watches.
“Guys can’t accessorize that much,” he says. “Girls have a lot more options in that regard, and a watch can really set things apart.”
He chooses to spiff up the city’s power-suit dress code with a “pop” of color in ties and socks. During his interview, he raises his leg to show off red-and-black-striped socks that match his red shirt.
“I’m conscious of how I look — I love working out, I love being active,” he says.
The former high school soccer and baseball player turned gym rat and runner has filled out his formerly “scrawny” frame, and now jokes about how he “can barely fit through the door.”
“I’ve beefed up a little, and my shape has changed a lot,” he says.
He has his weaknesses, though.
“I’m a terrible eater,” he says. “I have a sweet tooth.”
Smith says he could give up alcohol and caffeine but couldn’t live without his Sour Patch Kids, Twizzlers and Gummi Bears.
Smith made two New Year’s resolutions — to hit the gym more and be more outgoing with women.
Both paid off: He hasn’t let up on the gym and he’s had a girlfriend for six months.
— Vicki Needham
Age: 28
Hometown: Belmont, Calif.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Girlfriend
A self-described “product of the San Francisco Bay area,” Dan Lindner doesn’t use politics to discriminate when it comes to his friends.
“Obviously, I’m a pretty liberal guy, [but] I became really good friends with pretty much the most conservative guy in my group [at American University],” he says. “We just sort of found a way to debate back and forth without ever worrying about trying to convince the other person that they’re wrong.”
The press assistant for Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) has remained close with those AU friends, moving together to Washington’s Van Ness neighborhood and regularly going out as a group for brunches and dinners.
{mosads}Despite their tendency for good-natured debates, Lindner has noticed his friends getting more passionate with the presidential election looming.
Lindner says he spends his free time these days searching with his girlfriend for an apartment that’s closer to Capitol Hill to cut down on his commute.
“Right now we’re renting Zipcars and we’re driving around looking for rent signs that we haven’t seen on Craigslist,” he says.
When he’s not on the hunt for a new pad, Lindner loves biking and running — he completed the Cherry Blossom 10 miler this spring — and spending time at home practicing his self-taught skills on a digital grand piano.
“Other than that, my girlfriend and my cat keep me on my toes,” he says.
Although Lindner’s West Coast roots once earned him the nickname “California Dreamin’,” he says these days he’s become “more East Coast.”
Lindner relishes the pressure and rapid learning curve of his Capitol Hill communications gig.
“That to me is very East Coast, where it’s, like, fast-paced, you know — sink or swim,” he says. “I’ve grown to love it.”
— Geneva Sands
Age: 24
Hometown: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Single
On most weekday mornings, you can probably see Andrew Simpson riding his long board to work on Capitol Hill. His tall, athletic build and big smile already make him hard to miss, but with the long board, it’s near impossible.
“People give me a tough time for [it] in the office,” he chuckles. “Hey, it’s cheap on gas!”
Unlike many in Congress, the religious staffer says he tries to see both sides of political issues.
{mosads}“My father is a pastor in North Carolina and so I grew up in the church, but as part of going to church every Sunday morning I heard him talk about caring for the marginalized and the poor, and those who didn’t have an advocate,” Simpson says. “My faith sort of translated to a more progressive side of the aisle, but I’ve got to say, I think faith transcends politics and doesn’t fall neatly within political lines.”
Simpson’s work with a faith-based progressive organization after college next led to a staff assistant job with Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.). And while he won’t rule out working for a Republican one day, right now Simpson is having too much fun in McIntyre’s office and on his summer stint as a field organizer for the North Carolina Democratic Party.
“I think I’ll stick with the Democrats for now,” he says.
In addition to long boarding, Simpson stays in shape by hitting the gym, playing on a House softball team — the North Carolina Moonshiners — and coaching a basketball team in Columbia Heights during the winter.
“Stuff where you get to meet new folks and work out is ideal for me,” Simpson says with a laugh. “I’m trying to become a morning workout guy and failing miserably.”
— Debbie Siegelbaum
Age: 26
Hometown: Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Political party: Democratic
Relationship status: Girlfriend
Andrew Aronow says his dream is “to go to London to watch my soccer team play.”
Aronow, a staff assistant and legislative correspondent for Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), roots for Tottenham Hotspur, a British team he started following in the 11th grade. Every Saturday that the team has a televised match, Aronow wakes up early — “sometimes really early,” he says — to watch the game.
Aronow combines soccer and the gym to stay fit.
{mosads}But wearing glasses and sipping coffee in the basement of a House office building, Aronow visibly racks his brain for his personal beauty philosophy.
He spends all of 20 minutes to get ready for work in the morning, but says he does take extra pride in his haircut and his dress attire. He gets his unruly, graying hair cut once every two weeks in Logan Circle, and he has made it a personal goal to “never wear the same shirt-tie-slacks combination, ever.”
Aronow has been in Washington since June 2011. Prior to that he studied politics at Wayne State University in Detroit.
The Michigan native, who says he misses the milder summers and trees of his home state, isn’t just about the outdoors.
He admits he is a “closet nerd” and “kind of a cinephile” who gets addicted to TV series like AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” He likes both independent movies and blockbusters, but gives recommendations reluctantly. The movie he will watch over and over is Humphrey Bogart’s 1941 classic “The Maltese Falcon.”
Aronow’s nerdiness extends to comic books, and he admits he has considered attending the New York Comic Con because he frequently travels to New York City to visit his girlfriend. The DC Comics character Green Lantern was his gateway into comic book fandom.
— Alicia M. Cohn
Age: 27
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Single
Ryan Hanretty’s secret to fitness is moderation, which is funny, considering that his guilty pleasure is going to McDonald’s and ordering a McChicken sandwich, french fry, Big Mac and Quarter Pounder — for one meal.
“I believe in moderation, but I love McDonald’s, so I’m going to eat McDonald’s,” Hanretty says. “If anyone says I’m going to get overweight or out of shape because of McDonald’s, I think that’s absolutely inaccurate. So I just think in moderation, if you’re willing to work out and stay fit, then go ahead and treat yourself to McDonald’s.”
The trick is that he only indulges in McDonald’s one or twice a month.
{mosads}The legislative assistant to Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) burns the high-calorie meals by playing competitive soccer in the Washington International Soccer League.
“I try to go to the gym every now and then, when work allows me to, but soccer is my main form of exercise,” Hanretty says. “I’ve played a lot of soccer since I was 4. So it’s kept me pretty fit.”
He plays winger or striker, and his team’s name is AC/DC.
“I’m not a huge fan of the name, but I was just looking for a team to play for,” Hanretty explains. “I just jumped on the first team I could find. I love rock ‘n’ roll, but I thought there were better names you could have come up with. But they’re a great group of guys.”
Although he didn’t play in college at Sacramento State because of a broken shin his senior year, he was later able to travel — another favorite pastime — and play in Italy, Ireland and England.
Hanretty says he looks forward to continuing to travel around the United States, with upcoming trips to rhyming capitals Boston and Austin, Texas.
— Ramsey Cox
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