Troy Jackson, Maine Senate Nominee, Greets Supporter in Bangor

Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee in Maine's U.S. Senate race, greets a supporter on July 25, 2026, in Bangor. Both major U.S. political parties regularly tout their commitment to working-class Americans and claim to be the party of the working class. However, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans nominate many candidates who spent substantial time in working-class jobs.

This near-absence of people from working-class jobs in the halls of power matters. According to research in the U.S. and in other democracies, safety net programs are stingier, business regulations are flimsier and protections for workers are weaker than they would be if people from working-class jobs went on to hold office at higher rates. Working-class people can sometimes influence policy in other ways, but the fact that so few former workers hold elected office means that working-class interests often fall by the wayside in the world’s political institutions. We research the causes and effects of the shortage of politicians from working-class jobs.