A generational clash is intensifying within the Democratic Party, as younger politicians challenge a leadership class that some say refuses to cede power and risks alienating voters. Veteran lawmakers such as 88-year-old Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC's delegate to the House of Representatives since 1991, and senators in their 70s and 80s remain fixtures in Congress—even as millennials and Generation Z members now outnumber baby boomers in the adult population but hold far fewer seats, reports Rebecca Traister for the Intelligencer. The article describes incidents such as lawmakers physically struggling to navigate the Capitol or missing votes due to illness, but then running again anyway. One former member tells of an older colleague who, when asked why he doesn't retire, simply asked, "Well, what would I do?" The power struggle is playing out in races across the country.
In Maine, 77-year-old Gov. Janet Mills, hopes to become the oldest freshman ever elected to the Senate in her primary campaign against 41-year-old oyster farmer Graham Platner. In Massachusetts, Seth Moulton, 47, is challenging Sen. Ed Markey, 79, while in New York City, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani ran against and defeated 67-year-old Andrew Cuomo and 71-year-old Curtis Sliwa for mayor. While some of the older Democrats are stepping aside—for example, ex-New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith—many aren't. And some, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are seen as actively working to keep younger candidates from gaining power. "While the olds may think they are saving us by sticking around, what they are often doing is denying the future itself just when Americans most keenly long to be reminded that there is one ahead of us," Traister writes. More here.