A Lazy and Misleading Campaign Mailer Hits the Race for GA-11
Hey, Peach Pundit. It has been a minute. A mailer was flagged in Peach Pundit the Signal Chat™️that bothers me. I get that accusations get thrown around in campaigns. Just about anything goes. Those responsible for misleading mudslinging are rarely held accountable when they try to drag someone’s name through the mud. It’s one of the things I hate most about politics, particularly when a good person like Rob Adkerson is the target of the misleading mudslinging.
As you may know, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to congressional staff about various issues in my career, both as vice president for legislative affairs at FreedomWorks and as vice president at the Due Process Institute. It’s the primary part of my job, and I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to work on some impactful legislation. Because of the nature of my job, I’ve tried to learn as much as I can about how Congress functions, including rather mundane details.
Rob Adkerson earned a living. He was the chief of staff to Rep. Barry Loudermilk. He served in that role from Loudermilk’s arrival in the House in January 2015 through at least the end of 2025. Yes, chiefs of staff earn a salary. It’s the top staffer in every congressional office and, thus, is the highest-salaried position. Chiefs of staff are responsible for overseeing staff in Washington, DC, and in the district. They tend to have the best grasp of politics back home, the most political knowledge, and so on. They’re also usually the member’s top representative. In other words, it’s not an easy position. What you do for the member reflects on the member. If constituent services get bungled, it’s on you. If a member steps on a political landmine that you didn’t see, you could easily get the blame.
Regardless of the role in office, congressional staff are paid from Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA). A member’s MRA is essentially the operating budget for their office. MRAs are funded annually in the Legislative Branch appropriations bill. (As an aside, committee staff are paid out of committee budgets, not MRAs.)
In 2016, the most a congressional office could pay a staff member was $172,500, just below the $174,000 salary of a member of Congress. Congressional staff salaries have grown somewhat in recent years, as leadership has focused more on aligning salaries with the cost of living in and around the District of Columbia, where a one-bedroom apartment can cost between $2,000 and $2,500 per month. In 2025, the maximum a House staffer could earn was $225,700.
Adkerson averaged an annual salary of $139,573 over 11 years of service. From my experience, that’s pretty low for a chief of staff. I can’t speak to any arrangement for travel to and from the district. If there were such an arrangement, I don’t think it matters. If I were a member, I would want my chief of staff to spend as much time as possible in the district, if not live there and travel back and forth to Washington, DC during session weeks. I want that person to meet with all the top local elected officials—county commissioners, mayors, sheriffs, state legislative delegations, etc.—and to understand the district’s politics as thoroughly as possible. I want that person to meet constituents and work out of the district office(s) as much as possible.
It’s just lazy campaigning to attack someone for earning a living. It’s even lazier to attack Adkerson. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my differences with Loudermilk and Adkerson over the years, including some big ones, but that’s just politics. Loudermilk is a good man. Adkerson is a good man. He would make a great member because of his knowledge of the House as an institution and his knowledge of the district.
