Sen. Elizabeth Warren promotes her book “Persist” at Strand Bookstore on May 06, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
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Elizabeth Warren has earned $4.6 million from book advances and royalties during her tenure in the Senate, according to 10 years of financial disclosures. The haul is more than double what the Massachusetts Democrat has made over that period from her $174,000-a-year day job.
Before her election to the Senate in 2012, Warren, then a professor at Harvard Law School, authored books on academic topics like secured credit and the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, as well as less niche subjects like the financial struggles of the middle class. A year into her Senate tenure, she inked a deal to write her memoir, “A Fighting Chance,” which came out the following spring. She has gone on to publish three more works while in office, most recently the children’s picture book “Pinkie Promises,” which reached booksellers in 2021.
While Warren’s earlier works continue to generate royalties for her, the bulk of her book income over the past 10 years has come from works released while she was in office. Macmillan Publishing Group and its Henry Holt and Company imprint, which published the four books she’s written while serving as a senator, have paid Warren a total of $4.3 million, according to her financial disclosures. Last year, she earned more than $443,000 in book royalties.
Warren appears to have used donor funds to buy her books, albeit to a lesser extent than many fellow politicians. Her political committees have purchased $19,000 worth of books or “supporter acknowledgments” from her publisher, records from the Federal Election Commission show.
Senate rules do not prohibit members from receiving book royalties or advances. Similarly, the Federal Election Commission allows committees to buy a candidate’s book so long as the lawmaker does not profit from the transaction. That was the case with Warren’s purchases, according to an aide.