摇摆选区民主党人称自己的2010款本田是“我们买得起的车”——但披露文件显示其年薪合计近25万美元，潜在投资价值高达180万美元
2026年8月20日 06:00 美东夏令时 / 福克斯新闻
作者：亚历克·舍梅尔 福克斯新闻
发布于 2026年8月20日 6:00美东夏令时 | 更新于2026年8月20日 6:34美东夏令时
民主社会主义者利用经济焦虑瞄准年轻选民
福克斯新闻记者亚历山德里亚·霍夫在《特别报道》节目中报道，美国民主社会主义者如何通过聚焦住房成本上涨、学生贷款债务及更广泛的可负担性担忧等经济焦虑，同时推广进步经济政策作为解决方案，以此瞄准年轻选民。
NEW 你现在可以收听福克斯新闻的文章了！
blob:https://www.foxnews.com/31145194-720e-4a43-94eb-64e7919f2a36
收听本文
13分钟
多名参与竞争激烈的众议院席位竞选的摇摆选区民主党人，依靠工人阶级、蓝领背景的个人经历来呼应选民的经济焦虑，但福克斯新闻数字频道审查的财务记录和其他材料，却让他们在竞选活动中塑造的形象变得复杂。
例如在新泽西州，民主党候选人丽贝卡·班尼特将自己塑造为一位亲身经历美国民众面临的“生活成本上涨和经济不确定性”的家长，但财务记录显示，她在2024年的年薪合计近25万美元，还持有一份广泛的投资组合，资产潜在价值接近180万美元，且无任何可申报的负债。
在新墨西哥州，众议员加布·巴斯克斯（D-N.M.）曾称自己“从未有过财务富足的奢侈”，辩称选民更青睐那些“并非出身富裕家庭”的候选人，并将母亲描述为在墨西哥“马奎拉多拉工厂（出口加工区）长时间工作以维持生计”。但福克斯新闻数字频道审查的记录显示，他的母亲曾在通用电气（GE）担任企业财务职位，包括在墨西哥担任财务经理和主计长，后来又在印第安纳州担任高级财务分析师，而福克斯新闻数字频道获得的社交媒体截图显示，巴斯克斯一家多次前往欧洲旅行、进行奢侈品购物，并发布其他高端生活照片。
关键摇摆选区议员在领取纳税人薪水的同时，近半数州议会投票缺席：“缺席议员”
与此同时，在华盛顿州，众议员玛丽·格卢森坎普·佩雷斯（D-Wash.）的蓝领形象部分建立在她在汽车修理厂工作的经历和里德学院的求学背景上，称自己打三份工，在父母停止支付学费后，“按学分付费”完成了这所私立文理学院的学业。但福克斯新闻数字频道审查的财务披露文件未列出可申报的学生贷款债务，而熟悉佩雷斯在里德学院求学经历的人士质疑，她所提及的保姆、校园咖啡店店员和“iPhone手机壳工厂”的工作，是否足以负担该校的学费。
众议员玛丽·格卢森坎普·佩雷斯（左）、新泽西州第7国会选区民主党候选人丽贝卡·班尼特（中）与众议员加布·巴斯克斯（右）。（盖蒂图片社）
“选民比政客想象的更容易看穿这种虚伪的花言巧语。不如坦诚做自己，提出能让选民生活更美好的愿景，而非扭曲自己的履历和背景。”共和党策略师科林·里德告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，“正常情况下，财务成功和向上流动本应成为竞选宣传的卖点。但在社会主义抬头、妖魔化财富的氛围愈演愈烈的当下，这早已不是寻常时期。”
民主党被拍到指导候选人如何在2026年竞选信息中表现“真实”
正在新泽西州竞争激烈的第7国会选区参选的班尼特，于5月15日向众议院提交了经修订的候选人财务披露文件，福克斯新闻数字频道对此进行了审查，文件显示她拥有数十项投资、退休账户和其他资产。根据文件中列出的价值区间，她申报的资产最高可达约180万美元。该文件未列出任何可申报的负债。
其中有三项资产各价值50001美元至10万美元，另有17项资产价值15001美元至5万美元。由于披露文件仅按宽泛的价值区间而非具体金额申报资产，班尼特申报的资产总额下限约为44.7万美元，上限则接近180万美元。按每个申报区间的中间值计算，其资产估值约为112万美元。
披露文件还显示，班尼特2024年从Noom公司获得近20万美元薪水，同年从Oshi Health公司获得近4.6万美元，合计超过24.2万美元。
这一财务状况与班尼特在竞选活动中强调的经济主张形成鲜明对比。她在竞选活动中多次提及自己的家庭财务状况和作为两个孩子母亲的经历。在6月18日一篇题为《我的2010款本田雅阁》的竞选帖子中，班尼特称她和丈夫仍在开这辆已有16年车龄的车，因为“这是我们买得起的”，并辩称华盛顿需要更多“了解普通家庭财务压力的普通人”。
丽贝卡·班尼特于2026年6月2日在新泽西州韦斯特菲尔德的初选期间，在一场动员活动上发表讲话。（亚当·格雷/彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社）
在该帖子中，班尼特特别提到了育儿成本，写道：“我深知为育儿费用发愁的滋味”，同时还提及不断上涨的食品账单和艰难的财务决策，因为“银行账户里没有无限的资金”。几个月前，她也曾表示自己“和你们大多数人一样”，正在应对“高得离谱”的食品、教育、育儿和医疗成本。
这些言论与联邦选举委员会（FEC）的记录形成反差：记录显示，自2025年6月以来，班尼特的竞选团队已支付21250美元用于支付她的育儿费用。根据联邦选举规则，竞选资金可用于支付候选人因竞选活动直接产生的育儿费用。
“丽贝卡曾作为海军直升机飞行员为国家服役15年，之后将MH-60海鹰直升机换成了这辆2010款本田雅阁，用于送两个年幼的孩子去日托中心和公立学校。丽贝卡亲身了解育儿成本有多高，我们国会需要能理解新泽西家庭面临的挑战的人。”竞选发言人卡莉·琼斯告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，“而汤姆·基恩 Jr.却在国会里玩股票市场，丽贝卡将致力于降低生活成本，终结华盛顿的腐败。”
与此同时，巴斯克斯也明确将自己的背景定位为工人阶级和蓝领阶层。2023年3月，在他的首次众议院 floor 演讲中，这位新墨西哥州民主党人称“我从未有过财务富足的奢侈”，并在2022年竞选期间辩称，选民更青睐“并非出身富裕家庭或有钱人”的候选人。
民主社会主义共同主席难以解释百万富翁税收政策
巴斯克斯还多次将母亲在墨西哥“马奎拉多拉工厂”的工作作为其家庭工人阶级故事的一部分。在2025年10月的《洛杉矶舆论报》专栏文章中，他写道，母亲奥尔滕西亚·巴努埃洛斯“在马奎拉多拉工厂长时间工作以维持生计”，将她的经历描述为“牺牲、韧性和希望”的故事。在2023年的一次采访中，巴斯克斯同样表示，他的父母曾在马奎拉多拉工厂工作，包括在华雷斯城组装航空航天零件和制造冰箱、洗衣机的传感器。
但巴努埃洛斯的个人职业档案和福克斯新闻数字频道审查的其他公开记录显示，在巴斯克斯的童年大部分时间里，她都在通用电气担任高级财务职位。她的领英档案显示，她于1985年12月至1994年3月在墨西哥通用电气担任“财务经理/主计长”，负责会计、财务、薪资、应付账款、IT和海关事务。1994年，她被晋升为印第安纳州布鲁明顿市通用电气业务部门的高级财务分析师，该档案称她在此期间分析了一家年收入8亿美元、拥有3000名员工的制造工厂。
众议员加布·巴斯克斯在弗吉尼亚州利斯堡的兰斯当度假村举行的众议院民主党2025年议题会议上，与国会西班牙裔核心小组（CHC）成员举行新闻发布会。左为众议员阿德里亚诺·埃斯帕利尔（D-N.Y.），还有众议员西尔维娅·加西亚（D-Texas）和达伦·索托（D-Fla.）。（汤姆·威廉姆斯/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via 盖蒂图片社）
2020年《西班牙裔高管》杂志对巴努埃洛斯的一篇报道也提到，通用电气于20世纪80年代在墨西哥聘用了她，并选拔她参加了一个几乎只为常春藤盟校毕业生设立的两年培训项目，之后她才搬到印第安纳州。
除了职业记录，社交媒体内容也显示出更为优渥的家庭生活方式。福克斯新闻数字频道审查的巴努埃洛斯脸书和Instagram账号截图显示，她多次前往欧洲旅行，包括在法国停留三个月，其他帖子还显示巴努埃洛斯和巴斯克斯的姐姐在奢侈品品牌店购物。几张在高端场所拍摄的照片中也有巴斯克斯本人，其中一张他与一辆雪佛兰科尔维特跑车合影。
巴斯克斯还因2018年与前未婚妻在墨西哥图卢姆的Akiin海滩举行的奢华仪式受到审查。《每日邮报》6月报道称，该海滨婚礼场地的活动费用在3万至9万美元之间。巴斯克斯的竞选团队告诉该媒体，两人“举行了私人订婚仪式，但从未合法结婚，最终分手”。
丹·邦吉诺称社会主义是“保险杠贴纸政治”，因其在年轻人中受欢迎程度飙升
当被问及巴斯克斯对其家庭背景和母亲职业经历的描述时，竞选经理帕特里夏·索卡拉斯·圣地亚哥为巴努埃洛斯的说法进行了辩护。
“可悲的是，在美国民众面临特朗普灾难性经济的当下，共和党却攻击加布的母亲。她从墨西哥的马奎拉多拉工厂开始，极其努力地工作，追求自己的美国梦。”索卡拉斯·圣地亚哥告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，“加布为他的母亲感到无比自豪，他将致力于确保每个人都能实现美国梦，并扭转特朗普导致的经济衰退影响。”
格卢森坎普·佩雷斯同样将自己的财务困境和行业从业经历作为其政治履历的核心。在2023年接受其母校《里德杂志》采访时，她表示，在她不再去教堂后，父母停止了支付她的学费。
“之后，我打了三份工，按学分付费完成了里德学院的学业。”格卢森坎普·佩雷斯说，她提到的工作包括保姆、咖啡店店员和“iPhone手机壳工厂”的员工。
里德学院的历史记录显示，2010-2011学年的学费为39440美元，每学分学费为1625美元，次年学费上涨至40940美元，每学分学费为1750美元。
与此同时，格卢森坎普·佩雷斯于5月15日提交的最新众议院财务披露文件显示，她持有两笔商业地产票据和一处住宅的抵押贷款，但未申报任何可记录的学生贷款债务。
众议员玛丽·格卢森坎普·佩雷斯身着卡哈特夹克，走在美国国会大厦的台阶上。（比尔·克拉克/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via 盖蒂图片社）
此外，格卢森坎普·佩雷斯的一些前里德学院同学公开质疑了她通过这些工作支付私立大学学费的说法。在1月29日一期名为《绝对可爱的玛丽·格卢森坎普·佩雷斯》的NOEXIST INC播客中，前室友艾萨克·埃格称，所谓的“iPhone手机壳工厂”实际上是Grove（现为Grovemade），这是一家位于波特兰的小型手工制作竹制iPhone手机壳的公司，他回忆称格卢森坎普·佩雷斯直到2010年或2011年左右才开始在那里工作，那时她在里德学院的求学已接近尾声。他还指出，这家工厂更像是一家小型手工竹制产品制造商，产品均为手工制作。
埃格在播客中补充说，格卢森坎普·佩雷斯曾在里德学院校内的Paradox咖啡店担任店员，他回忆称她直到大四左右才开始这份工作。另一位前室友在节目中被称为萨姆，埃格称正是他雇佣了格卢森坎普·佩雷斯在咖啡店工作，他认为咖啡店的薪资远不足以支付里德学院的学费，称即使咖啡店所有店员在他就读该校的四年里的总收入，也不足以支付一名学生一个学期的学费。
福克斯新闻权力排名：民主党左转，黑人选民踩下刹车
对格卢森坎普·佩雷斯在其整个政治生涯中塑造的机械师形象的质疑也随之而来。她的竞选团队仍将她描述为“蓝领行业的小企业主”，竞选材料也刊登了她修车、拧扳手的照片。
但《华盛顿自由灯塔报》2024年报道称，2018年Dean汽车维修店网站上的存档个人简介将格卢森坎普·佩雷斯描述为“主要在幕后管理业务方面”，该店在2017年俄勒冈州职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）的检查中被查出多项 workplace-safety 违规行为。
她的竞选团队对有关格卢森坎普·佩雷斯工人阶级资历的广泛批评进行了反驳。
“玛丽每天都在为西南华盛顿州的家庭而战。她和丈夫白手起家创办了自己的小企业——不是靠家庭资金，而是靠毅力和决心。”竞选经理蒂姆·高恩告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，“她深知填写像电话簿一样厚的小企业管理局贷款申请有多难，也深知发放工资需要付出什么。她正致力于解决所在社区的可负担性危机，夺回权力，让普通人拥有真正的经济自主权：拥有修复自己物品的权利、年轻人真正买得起的住房，以及可以传给孩子的家庭农场。她将继续做这份工作，因为这正是西南华盛顿州所需要的，而不是另一个被华盛顿或奥林匹亚的企业利益操控的职业政客。”
众议员玛丽·格卢森坎普·佩雷斯（左）和加布·巴斯克斯（右）正面临着民众对他们向选民传递的信息真实性的质疑。（汤姆·威廉姆斯/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | 格雷姆·斯隆/Bloomberg via 盖蒂图片社）
点击此处下载福克斯新闻APP
对民主党工人阶级形象塑造的审查并不局限于这三位摇摆选区民主党人。
福克斯新闻数字频道上月报道称，蒙大拿州民主党众议院候选人萨姆·福斯塔格竞选时自称是一名蓝领空降消防员，懂得“挥舞工具”，但此前他曾多年担任美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）和计划生育组织等团体的注册说客。
今年5月，在该席位的民主党初选前，福克斯新闻数字频道报道称，福斯塔格的对手瑞安·巴斯也面临真实性质疑。他在一则竞选广告中拍摄了自己为工人阶级奋斗的画面，背景看起来像是一名助手的普通联排别墅，而非他自己占地四英亩的房产，房地产网站估值约为160万美元。
巴斯最终在初选中输给了福斯塔格。
“在这个时代，只有富有的自由主义者才能负担得起社会主义的主张。”共和党传播公司Targeted Victory的首席传播官马特·高曼告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，“这些民主党人代表了一个趋势：构成民主党基础的是向下流动的群体。他们拥有最高比例的第二学位，但收入最低。这些候选人不在乎四处伸手索要你的钱，同时却囤积自己的财富。”
亚历克·舍梅尔是福克斯新闻数字频道的政治记者，原籍北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市，现居住在华盛顿特区-巴尔的摩大都会区。
Luxury travel, shopping, six-figure income: Battleground Dems ripped for ‘phony’ working-class narrative
Battleground Dem says her 2010 Honda is ‘what we can afford’ — while disclosures show a combined salary of nearly $250k and investments potentially worth $1.8 million
2026-08-20 06:00 EDT / Fox News
By Alec Schemmel Fox News
Published August 20, 2026 6:00am EDT | Updated August 20, 2026 6:34am EDT
Democratic socialists target young voters by tapping financial anxieties
Fox News reporter Alexandria Hoff reports on how the Democratic Socialists of America are targeting young voters by focusing on financial anxieties, including rising housing costs, student loan debt and broader affordability concerns, while promoting progressive economic policies as solutions on ‘Special Report.’
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!
blob:https://www.foxnews.com/31145194-720e-4a43-94eb-64e7919f2a36
Listen to this article
13 min
Several battleground Democrats running in competitive House races have leaned on working-class, blue-collar biographies to connect with voters’ economic anxieties, but financial records and other materials reviewed by Fox News Digital complicate the images they have presented on the campaign trail.
In New Jersey, for example, Democratic Party candidate Rebecca Bennett has pitched herself as a parent with firsthand understanding of the “rising costs and economic uncertainty” facing American families, but financial records show she collected a combined salary of nearly $250,000 in 2024 and holds an extensive investment portfolio with assets potentially worth nearly $1.8 million and no reportable liabilities.
In New Mexico, Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., has said he “never had the luxury of financial wealth,” argued voters are drawn to candidates who do not “come from wealth,” and described his mother as working long hours in Mexico’s “maquiladora industry” to make ends meet. But records reviewed by Fox News Digital show his mother held corporate finance roles at GE, including as a finance manager and comptroller in Mexico and later as a senior finance analyst in Indiana, while social media screenshots shared with Fox News Digital show repeated European travel, luxury shopping and other upscale family photos.
DEM IN KEY SWING RACE MISSED NEARLY HALF HER STATE HOUSE VOTES WHILE TAKING TAXPAYER SALARY: ‘NO SHOW’
Meanwhile, in Washington State, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., has built part of her blue-collar image around her time working in an auto shop and her Reed College history, saying she worked three jobs and paid for the private liberal arts school “by the credit hour” after her parents stopped paying tuition. But financial disclosures reviewed by Fox News Digital did not list reportable student-loan debt, while critics familiar with her time at Reed College have questioned whether jobs Gluesenkamp Perez cited, including as a nanny, campus barista and at an “iPhone case factory,” could have plausibly covered the school’s cost.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., (left), Democratic Party candidate for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District Rebecca Bennett, (center) and Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M. (right).(Getty Images)
“Voters can see through the phony double-talk easier than politicians ever realize. It’s far better to be who you are and offer a compelling vision to make voters’ lives better than contort your own biography and background into something it’s not,” Republican strategist Colin Reed told Fox News Digital. “Under normal circumstances, financial success and upward mobility would be attributes to lean into as selling points on the campaign trail. But with socialism ascendant and the demonization of wealth not far behind, these are far from normal times.”
DEMOCRATS CAUGHT ON CAMERA COACHING CANDIDATE ON HOW TO BE ‘AUTHENTIC’ IN 2026 MESSAGING
Bennett, who is running in New Jersey’s competitive 7th Congressional District, disclosed dozens of investments, retirement accounts and other assets in an amended candidate financial disclosure filed with the House on May 15 and reviewed by Fox News Digital. Based on the value ranges listed in the disclosure, her reported assets could be worth as much as roughly $1.8 million. The filing listed no reportable liabilities.
Among the holdings were three valued between $50,001 and $100,000 apiece and 17 more valued between $15,001 and $50,000. Because the disclosure reports assets in broad value ranges rather than exact amounts, Bennett’s reported holdings total roughly $447,000 at the low end and nearly $1.8 million at the high end. Using the midpoint of each disclosed range puts their estimated value at roughly $1.12 million.
The disclosure also showed that Bennett received nearly $200,000 in salary from Noom in 2024 and nearly $46,000 from Oshi Health that year, for more than $242,000 combined.
The financial picture contrasts with the economic message Bennett has emphasized on the campaign trail, where she has repeatedly invoked her own family’s finances and experience as a mother of two. In a June 18 campaign post titled “My 2010 Honda Accord,” Bennett said she and her husband still drove the 16-year-old car because “it’s what we can afford,” arguing Washington needs more “regular people” who understand families’ financial pressures firsthand.
Rebecca Bennett, speaks at a canvass launch during a primary election in Westfield, New Jersey, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.(Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In the post, Bennett specifically pointed to childcare, writing, “I know what it’s like to worry about childcare costs,” while also citing rising grocery bills and difficult financial decisions because there is not “an unlimited amount of money sitting in the bank account.” Months earlier, she similarly said she was, “like so many of you,” navigating the “astronomical” costs of food, education, childcare and healthcare.
Those comments also come as FEC records show Bennett’s campaign has paid $21,250 since June 2025 to cover her childcare expenses. Federal election rules permit campaign funds to cover a candidate’s childcare expenses when they are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity.
“After serving our country for 15 years as a Navy helicopter pilot, Rebecca swapped her MH-60 Seahawk for the 2010 Honda Accord she uses to drop off her two young children at daycare and public school. Rebecca knows firsthand how much childcare costs, and it’s critical that we have people in Congress that understand the challenges New Jersey families are facing,” campaign spokesperson Carly Jones told Fox News Digital. “While Tom Kean Jr. plays the stock market in Congress, Rebecca is going to fight to lower costs and end Washington corruption.”
Meanwhile, Vasquez has also been explicit in casting his background in working-class and blue-collar terms. In his first House floor speech in March 2023, the New Mexico Democrat said, “I’ve never had the luxury of financial wealth,” and during his 2022 campaign argued that voters were drawn to a candidate who “doesn’t come from wealth” or money.
DSA CO-CHAIR STRUGGLES TO EXPLAIN MILLIONAIRE TAX POLICY
Vasquez has also repeatedly pointed to his mother’s work in Mexico’s “maquiladora industry” as part of his family’s working-class story. In an October 2025 La Opinión op-ed, he wrote that his mother, Hortencia Banuelos, “worked long hours in the maquiladora industry working to make ends meet,” describing her story as one of “sacrifice, resilience, and hope.” In a 2023 interview, Vasquez similarly said his parents worked in the maquiladora industry, including assembling aerospace parts and building sensors for refrigerators and washing machines in Ciudad Juárez.
But Banuelos’ own professional profile and other publicly available records reviewed by Fox News Digital show she held senior finance roles at GE during much of Vasquez’s childhood. Her LinkedIn profile lists her as a “Finance Manager/Comptroller” for GE in Mexico from December 1985 to March 1994, overseeing accounting, finance, payroll, accounts payable, IT and customs. She was promoted in 1994 to senior finance analyst at a GE operation in Bloomington, Indiana, where the profile says she analyzed a manufacturing plant with $800 million in revenue and 3,000 employees.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., conducts a news conference with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), during the House Democrats 2025 Issues Conference at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., on Thursday, March 13, 2025. Chair Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., left, Reps. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, and Darren Soto, D-Fla., also appear.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A 2020 profile of Banuelos in Hispanic Executive separately reported that GE hired her in Mexico in the 1980s and selected her for a two-year training program geared almost exclusively toward Ivy League graduates before she later moved to Indiana.
The professional record is also accompanied by social media material showing a more affluent family lifestyle. Posts from Banuelos’ Facebook and Instagram accounts, screenshots of which were shared and reviewed by Fox News Digital, showed repeated European travel, including a three-month stay in France, while other posts showed Banuelos and Vasquez’s sister shopping at luxury brands. Several photos from upscale locations also included Vasquez himself, including one in which he posed with a Corvette.
Vasquez has faced scrutiny over a lavish 2018 ceremony he held with a former fiancée at Akiin Beach Tulum in Mexico as well. The Daily Mail reported in June that events at the beachfront wedding venue can cost between $30,000 and $90,000. Vasquez’s campaign told the outlet that the pair “participated in a private commitment ceremony but were never legally married and eventually separated.”
DAN BONGINO CALLS SOCIALISM ‘BUMPER STICKER POLITICS’ AS IT SURGES IN POPULARITY AMONG YOUTH
Asked about Vasquez’s characterization of his family background and his mother’s professional record, campaign manager Patricia Socarras Santiago defended Banuelos’ story.
“It’s pathetic that, as Americans face Trump’s disastrous economy, Republicans attack Gabe’s mom, who has worked incredibly hard, starting from the maquiladoras in Mexico, in pursuit of her American Dream,” Socarras Santiago told Fox News Digital. “Gabe is incredibly proud of his mom and will work to ensure everyone can access the American Dream and reverse the impacts of Trump’s tanking economy.”
Gluesenkamp Perez has similarly made her own financial struggles and experience in the trades central to her political biography. In a 2023 interview with Reed Magazine, her alma mater’s alumni publication, she said her parents stopped paying her tuition after she stopped attending church.
“Afterwards, I worked three jobs and paid for Reed by the credit hour,” Gluesenkamp Perez said, identifying the jobs as working as a nanny, a barista and “in an iPhone case factory.”
Reed’s own historical records show tuition was $39,440 for the 2010-2011 academic year, with a per-credit tuition charge of $1,625, before rising to $40,940 and $1,750 per credit the following year.
Meanwhile, Gluesenkamp Perez’s latest House financial disclosure, filed May 15, lists two commercial-property notes and a mortgage on her residence but no reportable student-loan debt.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez seen walking up the steps of the U.S. Capitol wearing a Carhart jacket.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Additionally, some of Gluesenkamp Perez’s former Reed classmates have publicly questioned her account of paying for the private college through those jobs. On a Jan. 29 episode of the NOEXIST INC podcast titled “Absolutely Sweet Marie Gluesenkamp Perez,” former roommate Isaac Eger said the “iPhone case factory” was actually Grove, now Grovemade, a small Portland company that made bamboo iPhone cases by hand, and recalled that Gluesenkamp Perez did not begin working there until around 2010 or 2011, late in her time at Reed. He also noted the factory was closer to a small handmade bamboo case business that made its products by hand.
Eger added on the podcast that Gluesenkamp Perez worked as a barista at Reed’s on-campus Paradox coffee shop and recalled that she did not begin that job until around her senior year. Another former roommate, identified during the episode as Sam and described by Eger as the person who hired Gluesenkamp Perez at the coffee shop, argued that the barista wages were nowhere near sufficient to cover Reed’s tuition, saying even the combined earnings of all the shop’s baristas during his four years at the school would not have paid for one student’s semester.
FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: AS DEMOCRATS TURN LEFT, BLACK VOTERS TAP THE BRAKES
Questions have also been raised about the hands-on mechanic image Gluesenkamp Perez has used throughout her political career. Her campaign continues to describe her as a “small business owner in the trades,” and campaign materials have featured her working on cars and turning wrenches.
But the Washington Free Beacon reported in 2024 that an archived 2018 biography on Dean’s Car Care’s website described Gluesenkamp Perez as working “mostly behind the scenes managing the business side” of the shop, which was cited for multiple workplace-safety violations during a 2017 Oregon OSHA inspection.
Her campaign pushed back on the broader criticism of Gluesenkamp Perez’s working-class credentials.
“Marie is fighting every day for families in Southwest Washington. She and her husband built their small business from the ground up — not with family money but with grit and determination,” campaign manager Tim Gowen told Fox News Digital. “She knows what it’s like to fill out a phone book-sized SBA loan and what it takes to make payroll. She’s working to address the affordability crisis affecting folks in her community by clawing back power and giving real economic agency to regular people:the right to repair what you own, homes young people can actually afford, and a family farm you can pass to your kids. She’ll keep doing that work because that’s what Southwest Washington needs, not another career politician controlled by corporate interests in Washington or Olympia.”
Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, (left) and Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., are facing questions about the authenticity of the message they are presenting to voters.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The scrutiny over Democrats’ working-class branding has extended beyond those three battleground Democrats.
Fox News Digital reported last month that Montana Democratic House nominee Sam Forstag, who has campaigned as a blue-collar smokejumper who knows how to “swing a tool,” previously spent years as a registered lobbyist for groups including the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.
In May, ahead of the Democratic primary for the same seat, Fox News Digital reported that Forstag rival Ryan Busse also faced authenticity questions in the battleground district after he filmed a campaign ad about fighting for working people in what appeared to be a staffer’s modest townhome rather than his own four-acre property, which real estate websites valued at roughly $1.6 million.
Busse ultimately lost the primary to Forstag.
“Only a rich liberal can afford to be a socialist in this day and age,” Matt Gorman, chief communications officer at Targeted Victory, a Republican communications firm, told Fox News Digital.
“These Democrats represent a trend of the downwardly mobile who make up the base of the Democratic Party. They have the highest percentage of secondary degrees, yet the lowest income. These candidates don’t mind walking around with their hands out expecting more of your money, while they hoard their own.”
Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.