According to Hotline, 11 House Democrats say they’ll work to block President Obama’s plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans. Looking into most of these congresspeople’s districts, one gets a hint as to why they might be so intent on breaking with their party: they represent rich people.
The average median income for the 11 districts in question, $64,808, is almost $13,000 more than the national median, $52,175. And two of the representatives come from districts with incomes vastly higher than the national average: Virginia’s Gerald Connolly ($105,627) and Connecticut’s Jim Himes ($86,610). In Himes’ district, nearly 20 percent of the residents earn more than $200,000.
Only three of the eleven—Georgia’s Jim Marshall, Colorado’s John Salazar and Alabama’s Bobby Bright—represent districts with median incomes below the national average.
(All income statistics from the New York Times)
-Cord Jefferson is a staff writer at The Root. Follow him on Twitter.