LegiStorm

Rep. Judy Chu's (D-Calif.) newest legislative assistant comes to the Hill from the housing world.

Caitlin Kovalkoski spent more than two years as the director of federal policy at the non-profit Corporation for Supportive Housing before joining Chu's staff last month. The organization advocates for "comprehensive policies and programs that help very vulnerable people receive the housing and coordinated services they need."

Prior to working for CSH, Kovalkoski spent five years at the New York-based Local Initiatives Support Corporation which provides loans, grants, equity investments and other services to under-served neighborhoods. She registered as a lobbyist with both CSH and LISC.

Kovalkoski will cover issues including economics, public finance, taxation, housing and community development for the representative. 

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has hired another chief of staff - the fourth to serve her office in six months.

Jordon Sims, Granger's latest right hand, comes from Imperium Global Advisors, a lobbying shop he helped found in 2017. He did not register as a federal lobbyist there.

After then-chief Spencer Freebairn departed Granger's office for Raytheon in June, the congresswoman hired Steve Moffitt and Catherine Knowles for the position. They lasted about two months and one month, repectively.

Granger currently has the highest staff turnover rate in Congress, according to a LegiStorm analysis.

Grace Davis has joined Rep. Ron Estes' (R-Kan.) office as scheduler after having spent half a year as an executive assistant at Gingrich 360 Inc. 

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich launched the media and consulting firm in February of this year. Gingrich serves as the board chairman for the group. The company produces a weekly podcast called "Newt's World" which dubs itself a production for "independent thinkers."

Before going to Gingrich 360, Davis worked as an intern on Rep. Steve Chabot's (R-Ohio) congressional campaign.

Across Capitol Hill, you are more likely to find a woman covering women's issues on legislative staffs than a man, but there are differences depending on the party of the office, based on LegiStorm's data.

For both House and Senate staffs, a higher percentage of Democrats have women covering women's issues than Republican staffs.

On the Senate side, 51% of Republican offices with a designated point person for women's issues have a woman assigned to the area, compared to 78% of Senate Democratic offices.

Over in the House, 57% of Republican offices with a designated contact for women's issues have a woman assigned to the area versus 82% of House Democratic offices.

For most Democrats, abortion is viewed as a women's issue while it is seen as more of a morality issue for Republicans. Despite this divide, the gender breakdown for abortion coverage perfectly matches that of women's issues, with the exception that 46% of Republican Senate offices have a woman covering abortion. 

There are also differences in the gender of who deals with legislative issues to begin with. Among all congressional offices, there are more men than women employed as legislative directors and legislative assistants. Among all Republican Senate staffs, approximately 37% of those holding one of the two titles are women. On the Democratic side, approximately 47% of legislative directors and legislative assistants are female. For House Republican offices, 35% of those with one of the two titles are women and 48% of Democratic staffers in those roles are women. 

A former candidate for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates joined Rep. Nanette Barragán's (D-CA) staff as a senior legislative assistant this month.

In 2018, Matt Dernoga ran for the Maryland District 21 seat but came in fourth in the Democratic primary. Since running for office, he has worked with the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club as a representative for the organization's Beyond Coal initiative, which is aimed at retiring coal-fired power plants and moving toward clean energy. 

Barragán is among the representatives who have signed a pledge not to take money from the fossil fuel industry. Barragán is also founder and co-chair of the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Energy and Environment Task Force. 

In addition to covering the environment and energy, Dernoga will be picking up topics such as agriculture, transportation and nutrition for the representative.