Incoming senators are nearly 15 years younger than departing ones, on average. But the chamber’s overall age isn’t shifting much.
Nov. 7, 2026Updated 3:17 p.m. ET
When the new Senate convenes in January, it will welcome some (relatively) young new legislators. A few are even millennials, including James Talarico of Texas, 37, and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, 42, two Democrats who may have energized young voters to turn out.
But their effect on the average age of the Senate — which has crept up over the last few decades — will be small. The senators of the 120th Congress will be less than a year younger, on average, than the Senate’s current members were at the start of the 119th Congress two years ago. That’s because so many sitting senators are old, and getting older.
These numbers assume that Mary Peltola and Scott Colom will win their races in Alaska and Mississippi; they were both ahead in the vote count Saturday. (If both lose, the Senate’s average age will land at 63.6.)
itll climb back up.
people build trust on one candidate and keep voting them back in while they age. that is how the last layer happened.
There should be term limits
It’s harder to argue for an age limit, because the issue of representation comes up. There are even pensioners’ parties here and there. The Netherlands, for instance, has a party called 50 Plus that represents people 50 and above. It wouldn’t be surprising if those voters wanted to elect someone over 70 to represent them.
It’s also easier to argue for term limits since they’re already in use for the presidency. Maximum age limits are uncommon all around the world
I do understand that this still wouldn’t prevent people like Sleepy Don or Mitch McFrozen from taking office though… But then you look at Bernie Sanders and he’s not sleepy at all. If anything, he’s at the peak of his career. So there’s my conundrum.
EDIT: Maybe it should be like a driver’s licence, where you have to do a medical check-up every few years! You fail it, you lose it. But something like that would be vulnerable to corruption
65 should be the maximum for newly elected officials, forced retirement at 70, and strict term limits. They can hold advisory roles after that, but should be excluded from directly making decisions which they’ll never experience the consequences of.
Don’t set a definitive age. Pin it to some percentage of life expectancy; say, 90%. Want to stay in office longer? Make it so everyone lives longer.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯, that’s an implementation detail.
A ‘career politician’ should be socially, utterly untenable.
That’s not really related to the maximum age thing.
Generally, the longer they’ve been in office, the more likely they’re corrupt. And, as a side effect, they’re older.
Age correlates with corruption, but does not cause it. Money is power and power corrupts.
Term limits would help mitigate corruption. It’s why we have term limits for the President, and we should have the same for Congress.
Term limits can also help cause corruption. You can really get that revolving door spinning. You can really encourage people to think about what they’re going to do after their Senate job.
Wow, they are spring chickens now
Wow, that must mean they’ve got fifty odd 30 year olds
