DMV House offices spent $9.1 million in six months, and McClain Delaney ranked 10th in the House

By Philippa Langstrom

WASHINGTON — The 11 House members who represent Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs spent $9.09 million from their official office accounts in the first six months of 2026, according to the House’s quarterly Statements of Disbursements. Most of it went to staff pay. The clearest differences among them came in how much each office spent talking to constituents through advertising, mass mail and telephone town halls.

Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) led the region. Her office spent $1,004,029 from January through June, the 10th-highest total among the 445 member offices in the House’s April–June 2026 summary data. That was about $208,500 more than the House median of $795,489. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) spent the least in the region, $653,993, ranking 422nd.

The Washington Inquisitor analyzed the House’s summary grid, which reports year-to-date totals for each office, and the transaction-level January–March and April–June detail files. The figures cover official spending from members’ office accounts only. They exclude campaign money, committee and leadership budgets, and the separate allowance for paid interns, which is shown in the first table for reference.

None of the spending described here is alleged to break any rule. House offices may use official funds for advertising and mass communications that meet the House’s communications standards, and the Statements of Disbursements exist so the public can see how the money is spent.

Who spent what

Source: House Statement of Disbursements, April–June 2026 summary grid (year-to-date column). Ranks are among 445 member offices listed. The House medians for the period were $795,489 in total office spending and $646,524 in staff pay.

Staff pay made up 83% of the delegation’s combined spending, compared with 81% for the House as a whole. Rep. Don Beyer’s (D-Va.) office paid $819,219 in staff compensation, the fourth-highest in the House. Norton’s $767,472 ranked 27th and Raskin’s $756,668 ranked 33rd. Wittman’s $577,136 was the lowest staff payroll in the region, 367th in the House.

The communications spenders

Below staff pay, the biggest differences among the 11 offices came in the “printing and reproduction” category, which covers paid official advertising and printing for mailers, and in franked mail postage.

Source: House Statement of Disbursements, year-to-date through June 30, 2026. “None” means the office reported no net postage charge; several offices show small credits.

Six offices spent heavily on outreach. Five spent almost nothing. The six heavy spenders, McClain Delaney, Ivey, Elfreth, Walkinshaw, Wittman and Vindman, are all on the Nov. 3 ballot. Hoyer is retiring and Norton is not seeking reelection. Raskin, Beyer and Subramanyam, who are also on the ballot, reported almost no spending on advertising or mail.

House rules bar members from using official funds for unsolicited mass communications in the 90 days before an election in which they are candidates, according to the House Ethics Committee. For the Nov. 3 general election, that window opened Aug. 5. The spending in these tables all came before it. Offices file separate quarterly reports on their mass communications with the House, which are searchable online.

How the region compares

McClain Delaney was one of 10 House members whose offices passed $1 million in the first half of the year. The highest was Rep. James R. Baird (R-Ind.), at $1,411,400, followed by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) at $1,227,746 and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) at $1,174,164, the summary grid shows. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.) ranked just behind McClain Delaney at $997,673.

The region’s median office spent $832,770, about $37,000 above the House median. Most of that gap comes from staff pay, the largest line item for every office.

Telephone town halls

Five offices in the region paid for telephone town halls, in which an automated system calls constituents and connects them to a live conference call with the member. The House classifies these as frankable telecommunications, so they fall under the same mass-communications rules as mailers. Walkinshaw’s office spent $40,319.50 with The AEJ Group in the first half, Wittman’s spent $36,000 with Representative Insights LLC, Elfreth’s spent $22,420.91 across Leidos and AEJ, McClain Delaney’s spent $17,600 with AEJ, and Ivey’s spent $10,000 with Tele-Town Hall Services. Beyer’s office paid AEJ $5,100.

Walkinshaw won a special election in September 2025 to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly. Elfreth, McClain Delaney, Vindman and Subramanyam are in their first terms. Of those five newest members, all but Subramanyam spent heavily on paid outreach in the first half. Subramanyam’s total was among the lowest in the House.

Where the advertising money went

The transaction files show which vendors were paid:

Source: House Statement of Disbursements detail grids, January–March and April–June 2026. Amounts are summed across both quarters.

McClain Delaney’s office also reported $10,000 paid to iHeartMedia and $9,999.99 on an office credit card to a vendor listed as “El Toro,” both described as advertisements. Ivey’s office paid $10,000 to Tele-Town Hall Services for telephone town halls.

SKDKnickerbocker, a Washington communications firm, was the largest single advertising vendor for the two Maryland Democrats. Ivey’s SKDK payments were four April transactions for work dated April 10 to 23. McClain Delaney’s were mostly a $100,000 payment for work dated Jan. 27 to March 10, plus two smaller March charges. The House records describe the payments only as advertisements and do not say where the ads ran.

Rent: Norton’s federal office

Norton’s office reported $105,797 in rent, communications and utilities, the sixth-highest in the House. Most of it, $90,333.96, was paid to the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service for district office rent in a federal building. That reflects the cost of office space in the District rather than any unusual choice: members can rent district space in federal buildings through GSA or from private landlords. Raskin’s office paid $37,724.88 to BSREP II Office Holdings LLC for private district office rent. Beyer’s paid $11,802 to Simpson Properties Ltd. and Walkinshaw’s $10,016.22 to Mainland Building LLC.

Travel: close to home

Because these districts border the Capitol, travel spending was low. Eight of the 11 offices ranked in the bottom 50 of the House for travel. The most common travel entries in the detail files were private-car mileage, ride-hailing and parking. McClain Delaney’s office led the region at $20,377, including $7,140 paid to the City of Frederick for parking. Wittman’s 1st District stretches from the Northern Neck to the Richmond suburbs, and his travel came to $15,860, including $5,004.35 in private auto mileage reimbursed to Wittman himself. Norton’s office reported $131 in travel.

Other items

• Subramanyam’s office paid $14,880 to Eagle Security Group Inc. for “security service,” the records show. The records do not describe the service further.
• Hoyer’s office paid $23,400 to Leidos Digital Solutions Inc. for technology service contracts. McClain Delaney’s and Norton’s offices each paid Leidos $12,240 for the same type of service.
• Subscriptions show up as well. Subramanyam’s, Elfreth’s and McClain Delaney’s offices each paid BGOV LLC, which publishes Bloomberg Government, about $6,588 for annual publications and reference material. Norton’s office paid Punchbowl News $3,465, and Hoyer’s paid $3,672.90 through an office card.
• McClain Delaney’s office spent $13,258 on equipment, 14th-highest in the House, including $9,375 for computer hardware from Benjamin Office Supply & Services Inc.

How this analysis was done

The House publishes Statements of Disbursements each quarter. The Washington Inquisitor took year-to-date totals for the “Official Expenses of Members” program for each office from the April–June 2026 summary grid and ranked all 445 member offices listed. Vendor totals come from summing the January–March and April–June detail grids for the 11 offices in Washington, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia covered by this desk. Refunds and credits appear in the records as negative amounts and are included in the totals. Staff are not named in this story. The underlying files are linked above. The House’s July–September statement had not been published as of Oct. 27.

Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) and Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.), whose Baltimore-area districts lie outside this desk’s core coverage, are not included.

The Washington Inquisitor sought comment from the campaigns of McClain Delaney, Ivey, Elfreth, Walkinshaw, Wittman and Vindman on their offices’ advertising, mail and telephone town hall spending. The newsroom also contacted outside groups that track congressional spending. This story will be updated with any responses.