OPINION: Should More Senators Follow Suit?

On Wednesday September 13th I read a short piece in the WSJ about the Utah Senator, Mitt Romney. You could summarize it as his retirement announcement from Capitol Hill. This interview was covered and published by all the media outlets. The 2002 governor of Massachusetts, now 76, was quoted in various articles saying that he won’t be seeking a second term in the Senate, even though he felt confident he could win. So in January 2025, he is out. The key reasons covered were his age and the time for a new generation of leaders to step up. Among other reasons, he was quoted saying, “age is an impediment to handle todays’ issues.”

As far as I know, you have to be at least 30 years old to run for Senate. Of course, this is not the only qualification but it presents the question: ‘‘How old can a senator be and still hold office?’’ The answer, it seems, is there is no age limit. The same is the case for the amount of terms a senator can run. At the moment the longest and oldest serving senator is Charles “Chuck” ( no, not Chuck Rhoades from ‘Billions’) Grassley, who turns 90 years old the 17th of this month. The Iowa senator has held office for over 42 years as he completes yet another term. There is also the California Senator Dianne Feinstein, now 90, that was mentioned in the Romney article who was held office since 1992.

Just this year, it feels that I’ve come across several articles on the topic of age and politicians. Earlier in the first quarter I read that the 2020 census puts the median age of the U.S. population at around 39, while the median age of a senator is 65 years old. That’s a rather large disparity. One that could reveal a number of serious issues on governance, policy-making and imbalance of representation.

How many Instagram memes and Tik-Tok reels do you continue to see, laugh, and share, illustrating the president’s issues with cognizance? The Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell was one of the individuals that encouraged Mitt Romney to run for re-election. McConnell himself, now 81, has had public coverage of what could be interpreted as residual effects from an “accident” he reportedly had in March of this year. It’s clear to me that the population has noticed and commented on the health decline in many political figures. The mainstream media continues to cover this topic as they prepare for the 2024 elections. This political move by Senator Romney could be used as a great example of how the public hopes other leaders will follow.

Now, some could say that the six-year senate term can offer stability and consistency for the respective state. However, the “incumbency advantage” definitely plays a big role with these politicians serving for multiple terms and creates a barrier to entry for new candidates. And, not to pick on the man, but McConnell has held office since 1985 and like him many senators have held their seat for several decades. As congress continues to age and the gap widens on topics like technology literacy, policy priorities and the longevity of policies, what action can the masses take, if any, to mitigate this generational misrepresentation? Is the main answer voter engagement? To use a boxing analogy, does the American public let these politicians get “punch drunk” before being forced to retire?

It may be wishful thinking to expect other members of congress will take (definitely not claiming to have coined this phrase!) the Mitt Romney Approach, “leave when they’re wishing you would stay.” But there is an argument to be made between the correlation of the growth of politicians’ net-worth and their tenure in office. With a yearly salary of $174,000 dollars we begin to question how some are accumulating 30x, 50x or even 100x their expected wealth? Are they better investors than the top investment managers on Wall St or what other factors are in play? A more thoughtful question is, ‘who is covering this topic and could you please send the publications my way?’

It could be a simple issue of power and greed. This brings us back to the title of the post. Should more senators follow suit? or can we start a conversation on other measures that could be set in place?