(The Hill) — Young challengers are jumping into Democratic primaries against elder party stalwarts, putting age squarely on the ballot in the wake of former President Joe Biden’s reelection bid coming to a disastrous end.
The generational primary matchups are quickly stacking up.
In Maine, first-time candidate Graham Platner, 40, faces 77-year-old Gov. Janet Mills. Down south in Tennessee, state Rep. Justin Pearson, 30, will run for the seat of longtime 76-year-old Rep. Steve Cohen. In Massachusetts, Rep. Seth Moulton, 46, is seeking to oust Sen. Ed Markey, 79. In the nation’s capital, 88-year-old Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton will face at least two younger foes if she runs for reelection. And California state Sen. Scott Wiener, 55, and a former aide to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are geared up to challenge 85-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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As battles shape up between the party’s young guns and old guard, experts and candidates are debating how much age will ultimately affect voters’ decisions.
“There’s no question that Biden’s performance in the election cycle of 2024 certainly had an impact in terms of how we view politicians and their ability to govern as they continue to age,” said Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian for ABC News and CEO of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.
Olivia Julianna, a youth Democratic strategist and content creator, also traced the trend back to Biden. “I think it’s a natural fallout of that,” she said.
Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Political Opinion, said age is “definitely a factor” in upcoming elections. But he believes discussions about age and experience are part of a larger issue: the Democratic Party’s identity crisis.
“The Democratic Party is searching for its identity, and I think there’s a wide split between the pragmatic old guard and the well-known people — the Bidens, the Schumers, the Pelosis — that group … and other Democrats of the more progressive, new generation,” Miringoff said, referring to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer along with Biden and Pelosi.
The party lost many young voters in the last election cycle, he noted. Generation Z men have started trending toward voting for GOP candidates. And party members are struggling to figure out how to stop the bleed.
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“It’s something they don’t want to have repeat,” he said. “And one way to avoid that is to put in a new generation of political folks.”
Biden’s campaign for reelection, which culminated in a stumbling performance against President Donald Trump on the debate stage in June 2024, has reverberated through the party. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., cited the fiasco when he announced his decision to retire at 78 years old earlier this year.
“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” he said.
Moulton, a veteran who tested the presidential waters five years ago, nodded at Biden’s failed run to justify his run against Markey.
“We’re in a crisis, and with everything we learned last election, I just don’t believe Sen. Markey should be running for another six-year term at 80 years old,” Moulton said in a Wednesday video announcing his Senate run.
“Even more, I don’t think someone who’s been in Congress for half a century is the right person to meet this moment and win the future,” he continued.
For Liam Elkind, a 26-year-old candidate running for Nadler’s seat, age doesn’t necessarily correlate with effectiveness.
Elkind launched his campaign against Nadler mere weeks before the New York representative announced his retirement. His decision to run wasn’t because of Nadler’s age but because he thought his response to the Trump administration was “inadequate.”
“It was unacceptable to me to continue to lose, to continue to not deliver on the things my generation wants most,” Elkind said.
That’s the same message that David Hogg — who briefly served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee before being forced out — has often repeated as the leading youth figure in the post-Biden primary push.
“There are older people who are great; there are young people who suck,” he said in May.
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George Hornedo, a 34-year-old running to replace Indiana Rep. André Carson — who at 51 has served in Congress for 17 years — said he made his decision to run based on Carson’s “ineffectiveness” in Congress.
Still, Julianna, the youth Democratic strategist, noted many of these young congressional hopefuls were leaning into age differences. “Candidates are certainly trying to make it play a role in the upcoming primaries,” she said.
Luke Bronin, the former mayor of Hartford, Conn., running to unseat 77-year-old Rep. John Larson, has not been coy about making age an issue.
“In this moment in our history, in this moment in our politics, it can’t be the case anymore that people stay in office decade after decade simply because they’ve been there for so long,” Bronin, 46, told NewsNation partner The Hill.
Among those who have not joined the push for younger candidates: 74-year-old Schumer.
In a long-shot effort to flip the Senate, he has recruited Janet Mills, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown — all older than 70 years old.
Support for Mills from established Democrats prompted criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has backed Platner’s bid and warned against wasting millions on an “unnecessary” and “divisive” primary.
Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, the former aide to Ocasio-Cortez running against Pelosi, said Platner — who has disavowed a series of embarrassing online posts this past week — is an “incredible candidate” who “actually connects with people in Maine.”
“And you get Janet Mills — who, I’m sure she’s a good governor — but she’s 77, and she’s saying she’s only going to run for one term,” he said.
“The establishment is going out of its way to shoot itself in the foot,” he added. “It’s a losing strategy, and it just makes no sense. That’s why people like Chuck Schumer need to be out of leadership.”
Schumer may soon face a generational matchup of his own against Ocasio-Cortez, who has signaled interest in running for his seat.
“Part of leadership should be knowing when it’s time to pass the torch,” Bronin said.
“These are not lifetime appointments,” he added. “There’s too much at stake just to say somebody gets to be there as long as they want, no questions asked.”
