A report finds the number of state legislators from working-class backgrounds are scarce in Maryland and nationwide. Researchers from Duke University and Loyola University Chicago found that nationally only 1-point-6-percent of state lawmakers currently or last worked jobs considered to be working class; in Maryland that number is 1-percent. Working-class jobs included construction workers, service-industry jobs such as waiters or bartenders, clerical positions, or labor union jobs. Study co-author Nicholas Carnes says the absence of an entire economic class of people from the legislative process will determine the kind of problems addressed and the solutions proposed.

"If no one in the room has been on what we used to call food stamps, is the $15-a-month reduction a big deal? No, it's not a big deal. Well, yeah, it actually is a big deal for some people."

The study found Alaska has the highest number of working-class legislators at 5-percent.

Researchers found that nationally out of more than 73-hundred lawmakers, only 116 were working class, including about 1-percent of Republicans and 2-percent of Democrats. In 10 states, there are no legislators from working-class jobs. Carnes pointed to the time and expense of running for office as a major barrier to entry.

"It's not that they're not good enough, it's not that voters don't like them, it's just that running for office is really burdensome, and so you would not expect people who are burdened in their economic lives to be able to take on this other burdensome activity."

Carnes says targeted interventions are needed to make running for office more accessible to working-class people.