Democrats have exciting young leaders—if the torch ever gets passed

When outgoing President Joe Biden announced in July that he would not seek a second term in the White House, it seemed as if Democrats let out a collective sigh of relief. 

Of course, Biden was likely pushed out of the role after an embarrassing debate performance against Donald Trump where he mumbled and spoke in run-on sentences. But the consensus among party leaders and Democratic voters—that had been bubbling for some time—was that Biden was just too old. He had turned 82 and would be inching closer to his 90s if he won a second term.

Despite the attention drawn to Biden’s age and voters’ fears about him remaining in office mere months ago, some establishment Democrats appear keen to ignore those warnings now.

Biden is, by any standards, far from a spring chicken. But he’s a year younger than Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive, who only recently said that his next term will “probably” be his last. And Sanders is just one year younger than California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, who underwent hip surgery this past weekend after a fall while on an official trip to Luxembourg.

Some members of Congress are literally dying to stay in office. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. 

Plenty of younger—and more progressive—Democrats want to be in positions of leadership, but are facing barriers to getting there. Perhaps the biggest one is that certain leaders refuse to give up the power they have and are continuing to prioritize seniority.

Just last week, Punchbowl News reported that Pelosi is reportedly working behind the scenes to tank New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s bid to become ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. According to the outlet, Pelosi is making calls on behalf of Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, a 16-year veteran of the committee who is also running for the leadership slot. 

Connolly, who is 74, also received an endorsement on Monday from the powerful Steering and Policy Committee and from the centrist New Democrat Coalition, which announced its backing for him in a statement from the group’s chair and incoming chair last week. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, meanwhile, received an endorsement from the Progressive Caucus. The full caucus is expected to vote on Tuesday on committee contenders, though it generally follows the steering panel’s recommendations.

Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez, specifically, have had a slightly stormy professional relationship, predicated on the host of differences between the younger, progressive vanguard and older, more senior members of the Democratic establishment. But Pelosi’s apparent decision to support Connolly, who is battling esophageal cancer, to lead the House of Representatives’ chief investigative arm is an odd fight for her to take on.

Perhaps the battle lines are less focused on age and more on ideology. Pelosi and Connolly are friends. Ocasio-Cortez, however, is without question one of the most left-wing Democrats in national politics and has been a thorn in the side of senior Democrats on major policy issues, including Medicare for All, which Pelosi is opposed to. 

Governing as a gerontocracy, where older folks have all the power, has dangerous implications for our democracy. After all, older legislators might have a different view and understanding of some of the biggest policy issues facing the nation and different priorities than the younger generations. (For example, older Americans tend to be less liberal on the same social issues and policies that voters say they want.)

Changing this system, however, won’t be easy. Incumbents hold a significant advantage during election season, which makes retaining power easier than attaining it.

Of course, generational change doesn’t always signal an ideological shift. But if more progressive Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez want to pitch a new path forward for Democrats, they’re facing staunch opposition from the septuagenarians and octogenarians who came before them.

The older generation staying at the top keeps Democrats not just prone to senioritis, but unrepresentative of those they’re elected to represent. According to Census data, the nation’s median age is roughly 39 years old, while the average age of U.S. House members in 2023 was about 58. The average age of a senator was 64.

It’s true, too, that it’s not just Democrats exercising a death grip—pun intended!—on their positions of power. After all, last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell skipped work and missed several votes to recover from a fall he suffered on Tuesday. Despite this—and several unsettling freezing episodes—McConnell has said that he intends to serve out the rest of his congressional term, which ends in January 2027.

Surprisingly, the average age of Democrats in the House is slightly older than Republicans. Plus, of the five youngest U.S. senators, a majority (four out of five) are Republicans. And considering that under its current leadership the Democratic party has catered to more conservative and moderate members—which has proven to be a failed strategy—you might think the party would want to try to win favor with its much younger, rising progressives.