A new report authored by LaShonda Brenson, a senior researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, reveals significantly low representation of Black leadership among U.S. Senate committee office top staff positions, including staff directors, deputy staff directors, general counsels, policy directors, and chief counsels.
Since 2021, nearly all racial and ethnic groups have seen an increase in the number of Senate committee top staff, except for Black and Native Americans.
The staff director is the highest-ranking staff position in each Senate committee office. These directors often manage their committee’s work agenda, schedule markups and hearings, find witnesses for hearings, and provide subject matter expertise to committee members. Of the 37 Senate staff directors in committee offices, only one is African American.
Among Senate committee top staff who are not staff directors, only 2.3 percent are African American. There is only one Black top staffer among the 48 top staff positions for Democrats and only one Black top staffer among the 40 top staff positions for Republicans.
In contrast, White staffers are significantly overrepresented in both staff director positions and other top staff positions. Although White Americans represent some 57.4 percent of the overall U.S. population, they are 81.1 percent of staff directors and 76.7 percent of other top staff positions in Senate committees.
