The real reasons US politicians are getting older

ByJames FitzGerald US reporter.

Key points

• The 88-year-old Republican has represented Kentucky's 5th congressional district since 1981, making him the longest serving member of the House of Representatives.
• Mausser campaigned for Zohran Mamdani in his winning bid last year to become, at age 34, New York City's youngest mayor since 1892.
• Some 62% of 18-34-year-olds were probable to say few or none of their elected office-holders are honest, compared with 45% of individuals aged over 50.
• Others to have done so include US President Donald Trump, 80; Trump's predecessor Joe Biden.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 37, a Democratic congresswoman who took office aged 29, confirmed that she had kicked off the process of freezing her eggs.

Not plenty of US politicians have endured for as long as Hal Rogers. This person will go into November's midterm elections seeking his 24th term in the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the 88-year-old Republican has represented Kentucky's 5th congressional district since 1981, making him the longest serving member of the House of Representatives. He was elected on the same night Ronald Reagan won his first presidential term under the slogan "Let's make America great again", a phrase afterwards revived by Donald Trump.

Among the challengers Rogers beat to win the nomination this year was one 60 years his junior. But Rogers, born in the 1930s, is far from the only senior US politician to have stuck at the job into their 80s.

Others to have done so include US President Donald Trump, 80; Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. This person left office at 82; and Nancy Pelosi, who stepped down as the Democratic leader in the House at the same age. Chuck Grassley, 93, is still a senator. He entered politics in 1958, before Alaska and Hawaii were even US states.

Notably, the age and health of some politicians has raised widespread concern within both Republican and Democratic circles, nevertheless, reigniting questions concerning whether age limits or health checks should be imposed.

Meanwhile, the US is well known for its "gerontocracy", a administration ruled by residents who are significantly older than most of the adult population.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the US has one of the lowest proportions of lawmakers under the age of 45 among comparable democracies, according to research from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

So why are so few young individuals becoming politicians? And for those who do enter politics, can they create a success of it? No country for young men?

Twenty-seven-year-old Republican Riley Owen is one of the few candidates from Gen Z – aged in their early teens to late 20s – from either party running for Congress on 3 November.

Owen is running in a newly created district in Utah that experts say may lean towards the Democrats. He has championed problems including paid maternity leave, restrictions on congressional stock trading and environmental action – all matters that may appeal to Democratic supporters.

When he was confirmed as his party's candidate in the state's 1st congressional district, he walked on stage to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, and argued that his generation needed to support renew the American Dream.

In practice, the gerontocracy is "a bipartisan issue", he notes. "We've got people who have become career politicians, and they spend their lives in Congress." He notes this is indicative of a system that is not delivering for Americans.

Owen notes the sizeable challenge he faces is the fact that funds really negotiations in US politics. Research suggests campaign donors tend to prefer incumbent candidates.

Indeed, the campaign of his rival Ben McAdams – a 51-year-old Democrat who has previously served in Congress – has so far raised much more cash than Owen's. By mid-October, McAdams had raised over $2.6m (£1.9m), compared with $150, 000 raised by Owen, according to records on the Federal Election Commission website.

Owen argues that his generation is uniquely well-placed to understand contemporary political problems, such as the challenges posed by tech. He additionally disputes any suggestion that a younger candidate necessarily lacks relevant experience – pointing to his own background as a military officer and a White House policy analyst. "I think in politics, just like in industry, we need what's called disruptive innovation, " he notes.

Meanwhile, the age of America's top politicians has long been a talking point. In 1984 Reagan – who was then America's oldest president at age 73 – deflected scrutiny with a quip regarding the "youth and inexperience" of his opponent Walter Mondale. This person was a sprightly 56.

In the US, individual states additionally have their own legislatures, with a Senate and a House, where numerous politicians create their start. Plenty of current members of Congress spent years in state politics before running for a seat in Washington.

But the median age of Congress members has ticked upwards over time. Congressional records show that the lowest median ages in the House and Senate were both recorded in the early 1980s – at 48 and 52 respectively.

Notably, the average ages of a House member and a senator at the start of the current Congress were 58 and 65 respectively, according to analysis by the Pew Research Center. The median age of a US citizen is 39.

There is now additionally a sharper focus on the health and acuity of some of the nation's oldest politicians. Joe Biden's age became a major matter while he was in office. To a lesser extent Trump has faced questions too.

After a months-long absence from Congress to undergo medical treatment, so too has Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, with increasing regularity. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Maxine Waters, 88, faces a leadership challenge as the lead Democrat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee, with her age considered by some to be a factor counting against her.

Some of the most vocal critics of this so-called gerontocracy have been candidates who identify as democratic socialists, meaning that their political views are further to the left than those of the Democratic Party mainstream. These candidates tend to campaign heavily on the cost of living and other problems that cut through to Millennials and Gen Z, and their supporters skew younger too.

Notably, the demographic profile of individuals who vote tends to skew older, like the elected office-holders themselves. Pew research highlights that the proportion of non-voters who are young (aged 18 to 29) has been increasing. In the 2020 US election, 25% of non-voters belonged to that age category, according to Pew. Four years afterwards, it had risen to 30%.

Pew adds that voters under 30 were underrepresented in 2024. Though accounted for only 15% of all the votes that were actually cast, voters in that age category created up 20% of the voting-eligible population.

Campaigners argue that these demographic trends matter since they leave some matters underrepresented.

"Yes, that might result in older people being elected, but I think it really skews, too, what issues are important; what issues politicians are incentivised to talk about and to take care of, " notes Grace Mausser, the co-chair of the New York City wing of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mausser campaigned for Zohran Mamdani in his winning bid last year to become, at age 34, New York City's youngest mayor since 1892. Mamdani was held up as an example of a rare youthful success story, but his ally Mausser is less concerned with a politician's age than with their outlook.

Mausser notes it is not necessarily a challenge if someone has been in politics for a long time. Rather, the difficulty can be what may result from that: "You become so used to the language and the ideas of the political establishment that anything else – any new ideas, whether they come from young people or old people – seem crazy."

As an example of an older politician with a long tenure on Capitol Hill who has embraced change and had ideas that have resonated throughout generations, she invokes left-wing Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, 85.

In the US, older individuals hold politicians in far higher esteem than younger residents – even more so than in plenty of other countries, according to a Pew survey from spring 2025. Some 62% of 18-34-year-olds were probable to say few or none of their elected office-holders are honest, compared with 45% of individuals aged over 50. Of the 25 countries surveyed by Pew, only Greece's young adults had a more pessimistic view of the honesty of politicians.

For one expert who studies political engagement on both sides of the Atlantic, disaffection among young individuals helps to explain their unwillingness to participate in politics. The matter is not assisted by the fact Congress has minimum age requirements for members, he notes. Candidates must be 30 to serve as a senator, and 25 to be a representative.

"The one leads to another, " remarks James Sloam from Royal Holloway, University of London. "If you don't have enough young people engaged in politics generally, then they won't become representatives."

What is more, Sloam notes, young residents in the US and the UK alike are alert to the fact that power does not just lie in politics. They are aware there are plenty of other areas of work in which they can wield influence – including over elected office-holders.

For those young individuals who do end up in high-profile political positions, the next question is whether they can produce a success of it, especially when it comes to parenthood. Over the summer, the stories of two high-profile young women working in Washington raised fresh questions around compatibility of the job with motherhood.

Afterwards the same week in August, Karoline Leavitt, 29. This person was appointed the youngest ever White House press secretary almost two years earlier, stated she would leave the Trump administration to spend more time with her family, including her newborn baby. She explained: "I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy and attention required of the White House press secretary."

While a few dozen lawmakers are mothers to children under the age of 18, only a handful of women have given birth while elected to Congress. The federal administration, like numerous US employers, does not offer paid parental leave.

JD Vance, 42, one of the youngest vice-presidents in US history, lately acknowledged that having young children might impact on his own decision to run for the White House in 2028, saying: "We've got four little kids."

America's two-party system is cited as another barrier to young individuals getting involved with politics.

Taken together, the developments around the real reasons US politicians are getting older point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.