Not every transaction runs smoothly, and in those tricky moments, clients know they can count on their real estate professional to show up. And that's what NAR members demonstrated during a capstone event of the 2026 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings on Wednesday, when leaders showed up on Capitol Hill to speak with members of Congress on behalf of consumers and the industry.
“If real estate is your profession, then politics [is] your business,” says Reah Smith, AHWD, RSPS, a Seneca, S.C., agent and NAR’s federal political coordinator for South Carolina Congresswoman Sheri Biggs. “We've got to come into these spaces where the decisions about housing-the real estate industry-are being made and advocate for our industry, for the clients and customers that we serve in the transaction.”
While NAR's push in Washington, D.C., on behalf of consumers might not always make the front page, its impact is felt by buyers and sellers every day across the country.
“The American consumer doesn't realize that the REALTOR® member, the REALTOR® associations, are the ones who stand in the gap for them, for their rights to private property, for their access to housing. ... If we're not here, no one else is taking care of this business,” Smith adds.
South Carolina REALTORS® President Corwyn Melette, who also walked the halls of Congress, says what they do today has a “trickle-down effect” to their local communities.
“There's an old adage in our business that if you're not at the table, then you must be on the menu,” Melette says. “And REALTORS® [members of NAR] focus on being at the table, to be advocates for private property rights, for homeownership and being pro-business.”
