When Republican Mitch McConnell stopped speaking mid-sentence for a full 28 seconds during a July press conference, it startled constituents like Michael Frazier.
Frazier, a native of Powell County, Kentucky, which is in the notoriously impoverished eastern half of the state, said his first thoughts were about the longtime senator’s well-being, but then quickly pivoted to McConnell’s importance.
The 81-year-old senator is a Washington villain in the minds of most national liberals, but he has remained in office for nearly four decades in part by always touting his role in bringing major federal resources to the region, such as when $300 million in federal funding went towards Eastern Kentucky flood relief.
McConnell is an indispensable public official in the eyes of conservative-leaning voters such as Frazier, who said the GOP leader has allowed the Bluegrass State and rural communities like his to punch well above their political weight.
“So anytime something does happen with Sen. McConnell, we do have a worry because we know that the things that McConnell can do for us cannot be replicated by a freshman senator,” he said.
Frazier, 32, who serves as political director of the Kentucky Young Republican Federation, said McConnell hasn’t shown signs of losing any cognitive abilities since freezing up, and impressed the GOP faithful when he appeared at the state’s annual Fancy Farm picnic in early August.
“I think that McConnell is more than capable of continuing to be the leader,” Frazier said.
‘In office longer than we’ve been alive’
Other young GOP activists, however, argue the Republican leader’s latest episode underscores a debate about how U.S. elected officials, including President Joe Biden, are staying on the public stage too long.
Those constituents, who are more liberty-minded conservatives, point out that older lawmakers are saddling their generation with multiple crises from the national debt to climate change.
“Voters have the right to elect whoever they view as the best individual, however, it is my view that Mitch McConnell does need to retire,” TJ Roberts, 24, a recent law graduate who serves on the executive board of the Northern Kentucky Young Republicans, told USA TODAY.
“Young people are particularly aggrieved at this point by inter-generational senators who have been in office longer than we’ve been alive.”
How old is too old for U.S. politics?
Across the partisan divide, Americans are dealing with the sensitive political topic of how old is too old for U.S. elected leaders to be as we face the critical 2024 election.
Biden, 80, is the main engine of that conversation as online memes and cable news commentary by opponents fuels a larger skepticism about his ability to run a marathon reelection campaign.
Voters and experts tell USA TODAY the age question is coming up more often as a result and cannot be ignored, but how to address those concerns—from term limits and retirement demands to younger candidates and competency tests—varies as the country faces many generational crises.
Voters are concerned, but say it isn’t just age
Natalie Graves, a 52-year-old mental health therapist who lives in Chicago, said the age of U.S. elected officials is brought up a lot more in conversation with her neighbors, friends and family than in years past.
“My husband and I, we talk about it often that we need some young blood in there—absolutely,” she said.
Just this week, gun control activist David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland, Florida massacre launched a new political action committee dubbed “Leaders We Deserve” which is vowing to “elect young, fearless progressives” who are under age 35 for federal office and under age 30 for state office.
Thirty-seven percent of Democratic and independent voters said in a recent USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll that Biden’s age makes them less likely to vote for him.
Graves, a registered Democrat, isn’t among them but she said mental capacity matters, adding that each official in the news as of late should be looked at separately. She said she believes Biden appears to be functioning well whereas McConnell is diminishing and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, of California, is in the worst shape.
“Feinstein should have been gone,” Graves said. “Whatever her conditions are, they’re so apparent it’s just irresponsible at this point for her to stay.”
Feinstein, 90, has been dogged by calls from progressive lawmakers to resign over the past year after being sidelined from the Senate with shingles for three months.
The California Democrat, who was briefly hospitalized on Tuesday after she suffered a fall at home, has been confused when taking certain votes amid reports that she’s turned her power of attorney over to her daughter.
Julianne Reiser, a 57-year-old bookkeeper who lives in Burbank, California, said her senator’s condition “isn’t a good look” for the Golden State or the country. She compared approaching the concern about a politician’s age to the difficult talks families have about the lifestyle of elderly members.
“You have Silent Generation people who are now in their 80s and so people like me, we have these conversations in our own home: ‘when can we have the conversation about taking mom’s car keys away?'” she said. “So we’re being forced as a country to confront the same things that families have had to confront in private.”
Reiser, a registered Democrat, added how many people who are age 80 and older are, “sharp as a tack.” She said rather than imposing an age limit or testing a candidate’s mental capacity—as Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested earlier this year—a better idea would be term limits.
“I don’t want to push out anyone who is still passionate about their job with the wit to do their job, but I do think that mental capacity becomes a question after a certain age or really at any age,” she said.
Biden, Congress among world’s oldest leaders
America’s political leaders are much older than other national leaders, including most democracies where elected officials tend to be younger than in autocratic countries.
Biden, who made history as the oldest U.S. president ever elected, is now the ninth oldest leader in the world, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. To put that in perspective, the median age of world leaders is 62, which is two decades younger than the 80-year-old Biden.
In terms of Congress, the U.S. Senate is the seventh oldest legislative body in the world with a median age of 64, according to a study by the the Interparlimentary Union. The U.S. House, where members can be as young as 25 under the Constitution, is relatively speaking spry median age of 58, the group found.
Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, said age by itself isn’t a disqualification for most American voters who often cast their ballot based on a person’s performance. But as reports about the health of older elected officials persist, he said age will become a larger issue going into 2024.
“Politics and these campaigns are often about the future,” Dallek said. “And there is a reason why American voters have tended to prefer younger, seemingly more vigorous candidates. It represents a passing of the torch to a new generation.”
McConnell bounces back — for now
McConnell was received warmly by Republicans when he surprised political observers by attending the state’s the famed—and rowdy—political festival this year where he was taunted with chants to “retire” by Democrats.
“Well, this is my 28th Fancy Farm, and I want to assure you, it’s not my last,” McConnell said at a GOP breakfast last weekend.
Frazier, the young Kentucky Republican activist, said it’s never been wise to bet against McConnell, a Polio survivor, and that most believe in his judgment to stiff arm calls to step down by opponents, even within the national GOP ranks.
“It’s his history that gives me faith in him,” he said.
But Frazier admits that the latest health scares means there needs to be a public acknowledgment that McConnell won’t be around forever. He said behind-the-scenes many conversations with friends and political allies are about what and who comes next.
“It’s worrisome,” he said. “You think about not only just the now, but also the future.”
‘Let somebody else in there’
Outside of the Bluegrass State, other conservative-leaning voters who don’t view McConnell as essential to the national party’s future said he has been instrumental in stiff arming Democratic policies and appointments, but think it’s time for someone else to take hold of the Senate GOP steering wheel, especially as Republicans are eager to take back the upper chamber and White House next year.
“(McConnell) needs to step back and spend time with his family and let somebody else in there that will seemingly be more active,” said Thomas Gleaves, a 60-year-old gate designer from Rowlett, Texas.
Gleaves, a registered Republican, said regardless of party affiliation or age, Americans want elected officials who project strength to the rest of the world. He said McConnell and Biden are past their prime, adding how the current president “looks feeble” when speaking publicly compared to former President Donald Trump, who is 77 years old.
“If they’re 70 or 80 years old and they’re able to walk up and down steps and hold their chest out, and be very frank and stern,” Gleaves said. “You know, Donald Trump is older, but he has that and if there’s a better Republican that’s going to run this time, I’ll listen to what they have to say.”
Other voters say this debate is a reflection of how each of us must eventually deal with slowing down.
‘Listening to the elders’
Donald Isherwood, a 77-year-old produce farmer who lives in central Wisconsin, said older Americans can offer a wisdom and experience that remains valuable.
“There’s the old tradition of listening to the elders that has a place in history, has a place in society,” he said.
Isherwhood, a former Republican who is now a registered independent, said there isn’t a definitive answer about what Biden, McConnell or Feinstein should do. Eventually, however, every country must turn to new leadership, comparing it to how he relinquished day-to-day farm duties to others.
“They do have purpose. I still have a purpose on the farm, but it’s not the same,” he said.
“There is a sense of sensitivity that a president or potential candidate or a Senate majority leader should feel in themselves to ask, am I too old? Am I representative of the body politic, and I think the answer is no, you’re not.”
