Interning For Congressmen?

[Dereich]

I worked in my Congressman's DC office over the summer; most of what we did has already been described (phones, errands, occasional hearings). Its hard to say there is any one thing that you'd do, there's a lot of diversity between different offices. Some have only one or two interns who mostly sit around and read Roll Call and some have 5 or 6 who actually help with policy matters; I remember one had 9 and was trying to basically use interns as replacements for staff members but that was seen as beyond the pale. One thing I had to do a lot at my office was give tours. Several times a day a curious constituent would waltz into the office with no idea what they were doing and would want a tour of the capitol building and because staffers don't have free time we would do it.

As for everyone saying you need to know someone, I wouldn't believe it. If most offices are anything like the one I worked for the only input the congressman has in the choice of interns is a final cursory nod. The chief of staff and maybe the scheduler are the ones who will receive your request and evaluate whether or not to let you in. Your best bet for getting in is submitting your request to their office as soon as possible and being as flexible as possible for when you'd be able to work, some parts of the year only get one or two intern requests and others get 20. Also, if you get the chance to choose between a congressional office or a campaign pick the office; its much more rewarding an experience and its much easier.

Oh, and for those saying working for a Republican would be no good: Southern Republicans have the most friendly and laid-back offices of all, with the sole exception of Hanabusa but she's from Hawaii and that's just not fair.

[Hatman 🍁]

You have to know the right people; its quite frustrating, IMO.

I applied for Congressional internships for two years, to no avail. Two of my friends got them. One of them is close with the Landrieu family, so she got to intern with Mary. My other friend has a dad who's held several local offices here in New Orleans; he interned with Scalise last summer.

One route to go is through the campaigns. One of the friends I made this summer in DC worked on Mike Turner's campaign in 2012; they asked him to be an office intern after that.

To add to what Miles said, campaigns are a great way to "know the right people". I swear I got my internship because a certain MP's assistant spilled wine on me at an event

Who did you intern with, Keddy? That would've been amusing.

Nah, I was in the PMO. I've met Keddy several times... Let's just say we're on opposite sides of the party

Oh cool.

I didn't think you'd be a big Keddy fan. Pretty sure you've said stuff about him before.

[Хahar 🤔]

I know my cynicism is unwelcome here, but gosh darn, the student government types get to me.

My favorite was the guy who made a thread in Forum Community probably a year ago where he said he wanted to be elected student body president or something, but couldn't actually articulate any reasons for him to be elected or things he wanted to do.

[Smid]

I know my cynicism is unwelcome here, but gosh darn, the student government types get to me.

My favorite was the guy who made a thread in Forum Community probably a year ago where he said he wanted to be elected student body president or something, but couldn't actually articulate any reasons for him to be elected or things he wanted to do.

I can imagine his campaign speech...

[quote]
There are those who have accused me of standing for nothing, of having no platform. Let me be clear: there are things for which I stand, and things against which I am opposed. I have never shied away from outlining my beliefs and I am proud to come before you today and spell out my policies:

I am in favour of being elected, of representing you, my potential constituents.

I will campaign vigorously to advance the cause of my election.

I have always held firm to my belief in myself, as the best candidate for this position.

I will stand up for every vote in my column, and will fight against the formality and validity of every vote allocated to my opponents.

And I strongly support my election to this role.


My policies are not merely those things for which I stand, however. I can also be defined by those things against which I am opposed:

I can not and will not abide losing this election.

I will never support the election of another candidate.

I am totally and utterly opposed to my defeat.

I will not tolerate a loss in this election, no matter how great or how small it may be.


For the sake of brevity, I will summarise my most strongly held policies as these: I am in favour of winning and I am against anyone else winning. I am in favour of my election, and opposed to my loss.

I do not retreat from these policies, they are things I have long held to be true. I am unwavering in my support for my winning this election but let me be clear, I am just as unshakeable in my opposition to losing it.


I look forward to your support on election day. Don't forget to vote!