With Americans set to vote in Tuesday's midterm elections, candidates chasing seats in Congress are campaigning on more than policy — their wardrobes have become part of the pitch. "Politicians are dressing for two jobs at once: to look capable of holding office but to also look connected to the people they want to represent," said Joe Zee, a celebrity fashion stylist.
In Washington state, Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a former car-repair-shop owner defending a seat she flipped in 2022, favors flannel shirts, work jackets and practical boots. Robert Ordway, a conservative public policy adviser and former owner of Capitol Hill Clothiers, called the look "spot-on" for "authenticity and where you come from" in the Pacific Northwest. Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola takes a similar tack, pairing rugged outdoor gear with Indigenous-inspired details that nod to her "fish, family and freedom" slogan and her years working a fishing boat on the Kuskokwim River — the same approach that saw her wear traditional Yup'ik boots at her 2022 swearing-in.
Other candidates are leaning into overt patriotism. Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson has worn denim, bandanas and, at a primary party in June, pumps bedazzled with the American flag — a look journalist Bonnie Kristian said "cannot possibly be misinterpreted" on social media. In Texas, rivals Ken Paxton and James Talarico have converged on nearly identical relaxed blazers and cowboy boots despite their political differences, with fashion critic Vanessa Friedman noting Talarico's handcrafted Lucchese boots echo a style once favored by George W. Bush.
Not every sartorial choice has landed well. Paxton has drawn criticism, including from Trump himself, over his suits, and from his own opponent over a luxury watch and a Four Seasons polo shirt worn amid a campaign dominated by cost-of-living complaints. "Casual clothes don't necessarily communicate an ordinary lifestyle," Zee said, noting a resort-branded polo "can carry luxury associations just as clearly as a suit."
As Ordway put it bluntly of this cycle's candidates across both parties: "The necktie is dead on the campaign trail."