Article September 30, 2019 Issue

When a congressional intern prayed about partisan hatred

Leah Schaefer

During the summers after my sophomore and junior years in college, I worked as an intern with the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Being in the thick of all the political action was an exhilarating experience for me, but also very challenging.

One of the most common responsibilities for congressional interns is answering phone calls from constituents. It takes a lot of patience. It’s not unusual for the person on the other end of the line to yell and curse about the latest breaking news. People aren’t typically in a good mood when they’re calling their congressional representatives.

At one point during my second summer in Washington, various activist groups posted our office phone number all over social media platforms with instructions on how to harass us about a particular issue. For a week straight, the two other interns and I had our ears to the phones from early morning until we left the office at the end of the day. We spent that whole week taking messages from Americans about their frustrations with the current state of affairs. It was exhausting.

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