The midterms have become the affordability election, as voters incensed about rising prices and yawning inequality threaten to take out their frustrations at the ballot box.
Most of the top Senate candidates who want to represent them, though, have financial portfolios that put them out of touch with those concerns.
At least half of the 63 major Senate candidates who have filed financial disclosure forms so far have a household net worth of at least $1 million, according to a New York Times review of the forms. (Seven candidates haven’t yet filed.)
That is far more than the median American household net worth, which was $215,900 as of 2025, according to the Federal Reserve.
Candidates are required to provide only a limited and vague picture of their wealth, so the true number of millionaires running for the Senate could well be significantly higher. More than two-thirds of the Senate hopefuls who have filed forms appear to have a household net worth above the average American’s.
What is clear is that running for Senate is largely a rich person’s game.
And, a decade after President Trump first wove an image of wealth and business success into a pitch for the presidency, some candidates who have less are trying to attack opponents who have more.
Hotel Investments and Student Loans
A plane. Cows. Mineral rights.
A lot of different assets have built candidates’ wealth.
It is impossible to precisely ascertain the worth of a candidate’s household finances, both because they are reported in broad ranges and because the value of at least one key aspect of wealth — homes that don’t generate income — does not have to be reported. (In its household net worth calculations, The Times included assets and liabilities attributed both to the candidates and to their spouses.)
Financial disclosure forms reveal the lowest bound of a candidate’s household wealth. They also reveal the sources of that wealth.
They can also offer insights into other aspects of a candidate’s finances, such as whether they pay mortgages or have student loans.
Forty-four Senate candidates reported holding business interests, and 26 disclosed real estate assets that generated income.
Among the richest candidates on the ballot are Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, a Republican, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat, who have nine-figure household net worths.
Some candidates’ minimum net worths put them just shy of known millionaire status, including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota, a Democrat, whose household was worth at least $990,000. Some candidates, including Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican, reported a negative household net worth — although it is impossible to know if that is really the case, since any candidate could own a home that didn’t have to be reported.
Some have unusual assets, like mineral rights (Mike Rogers of Michigan, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming and Ken Paxton of Texas). Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota is an investor in hotels. The wife of Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who is running for the Senate, owns at least one airplane, and a hangar to go with it.
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi owns a farm in her state and sells cows.
And just two candidates themselves have the financial baggage weighing down many Americans: student loans. They are Charles Booker, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Kentucky, and Justin Murphy, the Republican nominee for the Senate in New Jersey.
‘I Was a Kid Wearing Goodwill Hand-Me-Downs’
Wealth has come up time and again on the campaign trail this year, with some Democrats seeking to turn the very existence of personal wealth into a political liability.
This has happened most notably in Nebraska, where Mr. Ricketts is one of the wealthiest members of Congress, with a household fortune that could be at least $128 million. He has repeatedly faced attacks from his independent opponent, a mechanic named Dan Osborn, who reported an income of about $108,000 last year.
But candidates don’t have to be as wealthy as Mr. Ricketts is for their assets to become a target.
For example, an ad from James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, highlights the vast real estate portfolio of his Republican rival, Ken Paxton, the state attorney general. (Mr. Paxton does not appear on The Times’s list of millionaires because his assets and liabilities are reported in wide ranges that could put his wealth anywhere between $103,000 at the low end and roughly $22 million at the high end.)
“Vote for James Talarico,” the ad says. “He has one house.”
In Alaska, former Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat, has sought to link the wealth of her Republican opponent, Senator Dan Sullivan, to broad — if vague — allegations about corruption in Washington.
“Dan’s part of a rigged system, where politicians get wealthy, and you get hurt,” Ms. Peltola says in an ad. “They make cash while our diesel prices go up.”
And in Iowa, a talking point for the Democratic Senate nominee is that he’s not a millionaire.
“I was a kid wearing Goodwill hand-me-downs, with the wrong color lunch ticket,” the nominee, Josh Turek, says in an ad, adding, “It’s families like mine who pay the price for Trump’s health care cuts.” (His Republican opponent, Representative Ashley Hinson, has a household net worth of at least $2.2 million, according to her financial disclosure forms.)
There appears to be a partisan tilt when it comes to wealth: Of the 32 candidates whose disclosures establish them as millionaires, nearly three-quarters are Republicans.
When Harvard Men Fight
The issue of wealth also came up on the Senate debate stage in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
Representative Chris Pappas, the Democratic nominee, brought up a key attack his party has levied against the Republican candidate, former Senator John E. Sununu: The money he has made in the 18 years since he lost re-election to the Senate.
“He voted with Big Oil throughout his time in Congress and then cashed in working for one of the biggest lobbying firms in Washington, D.C., and his net worth surged to an estimated $35 million,” Mr. Pappas said.
Mr. Sununu bristled and accused Mr. Pappas of being unable to read a financial disclosure form, which reports assets in ranges. Mr. Pappas had cited the upper bound of his range. “Goodness knows, I’m not worth $35 million,” Mr. Sununu said. “He can’t read a financial disclosure. Now I blame that on the time he spent at Harvard.”
(Neither man scrapped through state schools, exactly: Mr. Pappas earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, while Mr. Sununu went to M.I.T. and has a business degree from Harvard.)
Mr. Pappas’s household net worth could be anywhere from negative — in large part because of mortgages — to several million, according to his financial disclosure documents.
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