In John Duarte’s First Year in Congress, His Nursery Salary Fell to the House Limit. His Wife Alexandra’s Rose to $783,328, Matching His Old Pay.

Members of the U.S. House can earn only a limited amount of outside income for their own work. In 2023 the limit was $31,815, according to the House financial disclosure form. The limit applies to a member’s own earned income, not to a spouse’s salary.

On the disclosure he filed as a candidate in April 2022, John Duarte reported a 2021 salary of $783,328 from Duarte Nursery Inc., the family’s tree and vine business, and a 2021 salary of $35,653 for his wife, Alexandra, from the same company.

His disclosure for 2022, the year before he was sworn in, lists a salary of $783,953 from Duarte Nursery and $41,560 for Alexandra Duarte.

His disclosure for 2023, his first year in Congress, lists his own salary from Duarte Nursery as $31,815, exactly the House limit. It lists Alexandra Duarte’s salary from the company as $783,328, the same figure he had reported as his own salary for 2021 and within $625 of his salary for 2022.

House ethics guidance addresses payments to family members. Under a long-standing interpretation in the House Ethics Manual, if a member’s spouse or other relative “is paid an amount, however denominated, and the true consideration for the payment is services rendered by the Member,” the payment counts as the member’s own outside earned income. Paying a member’s spouse a salary is legal, and a spouse’s pay does not count toward the limit unless it is really payment for the member’s own work. The disclosures do not describe the work either John or Alexandra Duarte performed for the company, and nothing in the record shows the payments were for his work. We are not aware of any ethics complaint or finding about these payments.

Alexandra Duarte is listed on Duarte Nursery’s team page. In state campaign records, she has listed her employer as Duarte Nursery and her occupation as “Owner” (2011), “Office Manager” (September 2025), “Manager” (February 2026) and “Farmer” (May 2026, when she lent her own State Senate campaign $70,000), according to the California Secretary of State. Her campaign describes her this way: “Alexandra is not a politician. She is a farmer, a mom, and one of us.”

Alexandra Duarte, a Republican candidate for California State Senate District 4 on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot, is married to John Duarte, who served as the company’s president and is a former congressman.