Michigan Democrat running for Congress claims she can’t afford air conditioning or shoes for her kids – despite making $200,000 last year as a lawyer
- ‘Times are tough and like most Michigan families we’re making do with less,’ Scholten said in the ad as the camera cut to footage of an AC unit turned off
- ‘Making things last longer,’ she said as the ad shows her son wearing duct-taped sandals
- The admission is curious, given that the House candidate herself made nearly triple the average household income in the U.S. last year
- The admission is curious, given that the House candidate herself made nearly triple the average household income in the U.S. last year
In a new trend where lawmakers try to relate with everyday Americans who are crushed by 40-year-high inflation, Michigan Democrat Hillary Scholten claimed in a new ad that she can no longer afford air conditioning or shoes for her children.
The admission is curious, given that the House candidate herself made nearly triple the average household income in the U.S. last year. Scholten raked in $200,000 as an immigration attorney, according to an analysis of her financial disclosure forms first noted by the Washington Free Beacon. Her household income is likely higher when combined with her husband’s salary as a local university professor and the consulting fees he earned from two nonprofits.
‘Times are tough and like most Michigan families we’re making do with less,’ Scholten said in the new ad, as the camera cut to footage of an AC unit turned off. ‘Making things last longer,’ she said as the ad shows her son wearing duct-taped sandals.
Michigan Democrat Hillary Scholten claimed in a new ad that she can no longer afford air conditioning or shoes for her children
The admission is curious, given that the House candidate herself made nearly triple the average household income in the U.S. last year
‘Making things last longer,’ she said as the ad shows her son wearing duct-taped sandals
‘With things so expensive it’s tiring watching politicians fight each other instead of working for us,’ Scholten added. ‘Democrats should focus on stopping the spending and Republicans need to focus on people, not power.’
‘In Congress I’ll focus on the issues that matter most to families because they matter to mine too.’
The former Justice Department attorney is raising two sons with her husband in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Scholten will face Republican John Gibbs in Michigan’s third district. Trump-backed Gibbs beat out GOP Rep. Peter Meijer in a primary this summer, another casualty among the pro-impeachment Republicans.
Scholten is favored to win the seat, though she ran against Meijer in 2020 and lost by five points.
And while in the new ad she tells Democrats to stop the spending, Scholten has not opposed any of President Biden’s spending plans since he took office.
She praised the one year anniversary of the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan in March. ‘Every single Republican voted against it,’ Scholten wrote on Twitter. ‘#Democrats deliver.’
She also praised the passage of the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, claiming it would ‘lower costs for working families across the country & improve the lives of all [West] Michiganders.’
Prices are up 8.3 percent over last year, according to August figures from the Labor Department, and nearly 14 percent since Biden took office.
The figure was a dip from 8.5 percent in July and 9.1 percent in June. Still the latest the latest numbers were hotter than expected, and Wall Street dropped sharply in reaction.
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Falling gas prices led the retreat in August’s inflation figures, with gasoline dropping 10.6 percent on the month, though pump prices remained about 25 percent higher than they were a year ago.
Food prices continued to rise at a blistering rate, with the cost of groceries up 13.5 percent from last year, the biggest annual increase seen since February 1979. Housing costs also continued their upward march, with rent up 6.7 percent in the past 12 months.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 0.6 percent in August from the prior month, and 6.3 percent over the last 12 months.
Those figures were higher than some economists had expected, and pointed to the likelihood of another jumbo 0.75-point rate hike from the Fed when policymakers meet this week.
