Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, hired David Strickland (above left) as staff director. Stickland, the former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is the first Black full committee staff director in the U.S. Senate in two years.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) continued his consistent commitment to diversity among top staff and hired Tanya Bradsher to serve as his chief of staff. Bradsheer formerly served a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the Department of Homeland Security. The Joint Center’s 2018 report Racial Diversity Among Top U.S.
House Staff found that while White Democrats represented U.S. House districts that were, on average, 37.4 percent people of color, only 5.6 percent of their chiefs of staff were people of color. Only 2.1 percent of their top staff were Black. The Joint Center’s follow-up report, Racial Diversity Among Top Staff of the Virginia Congressional Delegation, found that Rep. Beyer had 33 percent people of color in his top staff.
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