As the corridors of Congress bustle with aging lawmakers, a significant portion of the American public is voicing a desire for age restrictions on their elected representatives.
A recent poll conducted by Daily Mail in collaboration with JL Partners reveals that 63 percent of Americans advocate for age limits on those holding public office.
When survey participants were asked to specify an appropriate age cap, the most favored response, chosen by 24 percent, was 70 years old.
While some veteran politicians in Washington acknowledge the need for fresh leadership, not all are heeding the call for change.
At 87, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters has announced her intention to seek re-election. Should the Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, Waters is poised to resume her role as chair of the US House Financial Services Committee, thanks to her seniority.
This decision has led to private grumblings within her party, and publicly, her opponent is urging her to consider stepping aside to make way for new leadership.
However, a few prominent lawmakers have – finally – read the writing on the wall.
Washington, DC, representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, first planned to run for re-election to a 19th term. But she ended up terminating her bid in January.
Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, speaks as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2026
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat from the District of Colombia, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 84, is retiring at the end of his 7th Senate term after fears about his health after enduring multiple falls in the halls of Congress.
And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, is not seeking re-election this year, after serving in Congress for 20 terms.
‘If you take a look at my energy and what I do — I am Auntie Maxine,’ Waters told Politico in an interview.
‘I’m the one who popularized ‘reclaiming my time.’ … I don’t know who’s got more energy, more concern. And so, Maxine Waters seems to be doing alright,’ she added.
Waters’ challenger, Myla Rahman, noted in her own interview with Politico that ‘she’s done a lot of great work,’ before adding that it was time to ‘pass the baton and let a new generation of leadership come have a seat at the table.’
Some districts have already started passing the baton to younger lawmakers, and others look poised to do so in the coming weeks.
Earlier in March, Democratic newcomer Christian Menefee, 37, bested Al Green, 78, in a member-on-member primary in Texas. The duo will face off in a runoff on May 26.
Menefee was only elected to the House last month, in a special election to fill the seat previously held by Sylvester Turner, 70, who passed away in 2025.
Nancy Pelosi speaks to the media after attending Congressional briefings on Iran at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026 in Washington, DC
Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, protests before President Donald Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2026
However, not all younger challengers are emerging triumphant over older incumbents.
In Mississippi, a top congressional Democrat easily defeated an upstart millennial challenger, a rebuke to the narrative that progressive voters across the country are looking for a new generation of leadership in their political party.
Mississippi Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, 78, is on the glidepath for another term in the House of Representatives after trouncing Evan Turnage, 34, who has been alive as long as Thompson has been in office.
Thompson first came onto the political scene as an activist in the then-segregated South, in his home state of Mississippi.
During his time in Congress, he served twice as chairman of the powerful Homeland Security Committee, both from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023.
Bennie Thompson speaks to the media as he departs the US Capitol following a vote in the House of Representatives on March 5, 2026
Jerry Nadler mingles during his election night victory party in the Democratic primary election, Tuesday, August 23, 2022, in New York
Another top longtime Democrat leader announced his decision to leave Washington in part due to the way older elected leaders are treated.
Representative Jerry Nadler, 78, who has represented New York City’s Upper West Side for over three decades, cited the spectacle made of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline as a key reason for his decision to announce his departure from Congress in an interview with The New York Times last year.
Biden’s disastrous performance in last year’s presidential debate escalated the scrutiny of the age and health of top leaders in the Democratic party.
‘Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,’ Nadler noted to Times, adding that a younger successor ‘can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.’
‘This decision has not been easy. But I know in my heart it is the right one and that it is the right time to pass the torch to a new generation,’ Nadler noted in a statement issued by his office back in September.
