Rep.-elect Tom Barrett will use his great-grandfather’s office : NPR

Rep.-elect Tom Barrett, who will be sworn into Congress in January, is looking forward to taking office — and not just generally speaking.

The Michigan Republican will be moving into the actual office that his great-grandfather worked out of nearly a century ago, thanks to a lucky lottery draw and the powers of persuasion.

“It is a real honor,” Barrett told member station WKAR in East Lansing. “It’s something that I’m very proud of and thankful for, and thankful that my colleagues accommodated my request and they were very willing to acknowledge the significance of it.”

Barrett’s great-grandfather, Rep. Louis Rabaut, was a Democrat who represented Michigan’s 14th district in Congress from 1935 to 1947 and 1949 to 1961, when he died in office — exactly two decades before Barrett was born.

A photo of Rep. Louis Rabaut of Michigan, who died in office in 1961 — two decades before Barrett was born.

Tom Barrett

hide caption

toggle caption

Tom Barrett

Rabaut — a lawyer, choir singer and father of nine — chaired a subcommittee on Washington, D.C., which would eventually make him the namesake of a park and school in the city. But his biggest accomplishment is one that has likely made its way into the lives of most Americans at one point or another: sponsoring the legislation that added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Cold War saw a grassroots effort to add that phrase to the widely-recited pledge as a way for the U.S. to differentiate itself from Soviet communism (which was associated with state atheism). Rabaut introduced the bill in 1953 after getting a persuasive letter from a Brooklyn resident, and President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law the following year.

Barrett, an Iraq War veteran and former Michigan state senator, visited D.C. this year for meetings marking the 70th anniversary of the bill.

“And I looked to find out what office he had been in and visited,” he recalled. “And then after my election this year, I was curious if I could try and get into the office that he had occupied.”

Barrett was elected earlier this month to represent Michigan’s 7th congressional district — which includes its capital city, Lansing — flipping the seat left open` by Democrat Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin.

Shortly after, he found himself running yet another campaign — for office space.

Running for office (literally)

Every two years, in November, newly elected and re-elected members of Congress get the chance to claim the offices that have been vacated by previous members, based on their seniority and which number they pick out of a box during the lottery process, the Architect of the Capitol explains.

The elder Rabaut occupied three different offices during his tenure, all along the same hallway, but Longworth 1232 was the one he was using at the time of the pledge legislation and the one Barrett wanted the most.

Barrett contacted the member who is currently using that office, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and asked if he might be willing to move out, which he was. That made Longworth 1232 eligible for the lottery — but Barrett’s quest was far from over.

Freshmen members pick last in the lottery, and the order among them is determined by luck of the draw. So Barrett got to work.

“I started it a couple of weeks ago during orientation, kind of verbally talking to a lot of my colleagues and alerting them to what I was hoping to do,” he said. “And many of them were very interested in the story and everything else.”

As last week’s lottery approached, Barrett decided to formalize his request in a letter that he could hand out to his colleagues-slash-competitors.

Barrett handed letters to his freshmen colleagues asking them not to pick his great-grandfather’s former office in the lottery.

Tom Barrett

hide caption

toggle caption

Tom Barrett

In it, he mentions that while he never got to meet his great-grandfather, “his legacy is something my whole family is very proud of.” Barrett even named his youngest son after him.

“Perhaps 90 years from now one of your descendants will be asking their colleagues to hold your office available for them to occupy,” he wrote in conclusion.

Next up: the work itself

On lottery day, Barrett drew number 14. Thanks to his efforts, none of the 13 members ahead of him picked Longworth 1232, which he will soon call his own.

In a celebratory tweet, Barrett thanked both Republicans and Democrats who accommodated his request. He told WKAR that he got to know many of his freshman colleagues on both sides of the aisle during his lobbying efforts, something he hopes will give him “a little better appreciation for members on an individual basis instead of a partisan basis.”

“Certainly, there are going to be differences of opinion,” he added. “But at least I’ve become a little more familiar with … my freshman class and some of their priorities.”

Republicans will narrowly control both the House and the Senate starting in January.

Barrett says his new office’s rich history is a powerful reminder of the importance of his new role and responsibilities, as well as another reason to think seriously about the future.

“I think from there about the generations that are going to come after me,” Barrett said. “Who’s going to be taking over these responsibilities when I’m no longer doing it myself? And what am I going to do to make sure that we set the course as best we can for the generations following behind?”

And that, he says, is what the job is all about — regardless of which number is on his door.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about the physical office that I get to occupy,” Barrett added. “That’s really something that it’s an honor for me to be able to do. But the responsibility that I have in office is to advocate for my district and try my best to put the country on the right track.”