Sara Jacobs

A California Congresswoman is raising eyebrows by admitting something most Americans have long feared: Congress is just like high school.

In a video captured by TMZ, Representative Sara Jacobs, 37, who hails from California's 51st district, noted that 'Congress is basically high school,' when asked by a reporter about how members pick their seats in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.

'There's no assigned seating, but like there is,' Jacobs notes, before launching into describing a scene that appears to be straight out of the 2004 Lindsay Lohan comedy Mean Girls.

'If you sit in the wrong spot, like literally today, I had to tell one of our new members, you can't sit with us because he sat in a seat that was taken by somebody else,' Jacobs continued.

Asked by a reporter whether there were cliques on Capitol Hill, the California Democrat responded that there were many, and went on to list them off.

'So we have like, Pennsylvania Corner, that's like the old white moderate guys. And then you've got California row, you've got the Congressional Black Caucus area, and like the um, the sort of like super mods sit right in the middle, right where like the Republicans also sit, to like show that they are center,' Jacobs recounted.

As for herself, Jacobs identifies as a 'floater' or 'butterfly' according to her team.

'I kind of like flit from group to group, exactly like I was in high school, actually,' Jacobs added.

TMZ posted the video on X at 10:30am on Friday morning, and it has since been viewed over 4 million times.

The Democrats' remarks were mocked by many users on the social media platform X.

X user Eric Krehbiel commented on the post, noting that 'she has no idea how gross this sounds to so many normal people.'

'What in the cafeteria is this? Honestly, not even high school, that's insulting, this is more like late elementary/middle school antics,' added fellow X user EmptyRedoubt.

Conservative commentator Collin Rugg shared TMZ's video, chiming in 'your country is run by theater kids.'

Fellow X user Paul A. Szypula added, 'I’d honestly say they’re worse than theater kids. At least theater can be entertaining and you have a choice in paying for it. Here you’re forced to pay for these imbeciles who almost all suck at their jobs.'

Public opinion data from the Economist/YouGov poll showed Congress at 17 percent approval during the last poll published on January 25, 2026, while Ballotpedia's average of top national polls showed congressional approval at 26 percent just two days ago on February 6, 2026.