What other books have been written by sitting U.S. senators in 2024–2026 and how did they perform commercially?
Executive summary
A number of sitting U.S. senators authored or contributed to books during the 2024–2026 period, spanning memoirs, policy works and partisan compilations; the U.S. Senate and Library of Congress maintain bibliographies of such titles [1] [2] [3]. Commercial performance is uneven: some senators earned six‑figure royalties from recent books (Business Insider documents at least eight senators who made more than $100,000 in 2023 from book royalties, including Alabama’s Katie Britt), while many titles’ sales figures and rankings are not publicly disclosed in the available reporting [4].
1. What kinds of books senators are publishing and where they’re listed
Senate.gov and the Library of Congress collect and publish lists of books written by members of the Senate, showing that current senators’ output includes memoirs, history and public‑policy titles rather than purely academic monographs or fiction [1] [2] [3]. These institutional bibliographies serve as the most complete public rosters of which senators have bylines or contributions, though they do not systematically report sales or royalty data [1] [2].
2. Concrete commercial outcomes that are documented
Investigative reporting has captured some measurable commercial outcomes: Business Insider reported in November 2024 that eight senators earned more than $100,000 from book royalties in 2023, and singled out freshman Senator Katie Britt as receiving $233,750 in royalties for her 2023 memoir God Calls Us to Do Hard Things [4]. That reporting establishes that at least some senators’ books generate sizable income, especially memoirs tied to recent political visibility [4].
3. Examples of partisan or collaborative books from the period
Not all senate books are traditional autobiographies; some are explicitly political, collaborative projects. For example, Senator Cynthia Lummis joined nine other senators in a 2024 book making the case for Donald Trump’s election and Republican control, with each senator contributing a chapter — a partisan, multi‑author effort reported by Cowboy State Daily [5]. That example shows senators also use books as campaign or movement instruments rather than solely as standalone commercial products [5].
4. The limits of public data and what’s missing from the record
Available sources document titles and, for a few cases, royalty totals, but they leave large gaps: neither the Senate’s bibliographies nor Library of Congress guides provide sales numbers, bestseller placements or publisher revenue data, and Business Insider’s reporting covers only a subset of high‑earning senators and a single year [1] [2] [3] [4]. Therefore a comprehensive, granular accounting of how every senator’s book performed commercially in 2024–2026 is not establishable from the provided reporting.
5. Interpreting the pattern and the incentives at play
Taken together, the evidence points to a predictable pattern: senators who publish memoirs or high‑profile partisan works can earn significant royalties and use books to amplify political messaging, while many other titles exist primarily as part of a public record without visible commercial footprints in public reporting [4] [5] [1]. Institutional listings (Senate.gov, Library of Congress) create legitimacy and discoverability [1] [2], but without transparent sales disclosures from publishers or universal royalty reporting, assessments of commercial success remain partial and skew toward the highest‑earning outliers documented by outlets like Business Insider [4].