During a video call promoting a re-release of his 2011 book, Gov. Ron DeSantis joked that the U.S. Senate “looks like an old folks home.”
DeSantis, who is term-limited in January, went on to urge states to ratify a federal constitutional amendment imposing congressional term limits. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that state legislatures cannot impose term limits on members of Congress, meaning they must be enacted via a federal constitutional amendment.
DeSantis has made the issue a signature cause, serving as co-Chair of a national term limits campaign with former Democratic U.S. Rep. David Trone of Maryland. Florida is among a dozen states that have passed resolutions calling for a term limits convention.
The remarks come amid Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell‘s prolonged absence from the Senate, which has attracted media attention and generated conspiracy theories. In his first public statement since his June 14 hospitalization, the 84-year-old said Sunday he is recovering from a fall that left him briefly unconscious, plus a bout of pneumonia.
McConnell’s absence coincided with the sudden death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was only 71. A preliminary medical examiner finding shared by Graham’s office attributed his death to a tear in the aorta caused by cardiovascular disease.
The advanced age and lengthy tenures of many American politicians have increasingly become a subject of discussion in both parties.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California faced increasing scrutiny during her final years in office as she suffered cognitive decline and prolonged absences due to illness. She died in office at age 90 in September 2023.
In the 119th Congress, the average age of a U.S. Senator is currently about 64 years old for both Republicans and Democrats. That’s up from 52 years old in 1981.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who turns 93 in September, has not yet ruled out running for a ninth term. Assuming he wins re-election in 2028 and serves a full term, he would break Strom Thurmond‘s record as the oldest sitting Senator ever and Michigan U.S. Rep. John Dingell‘s record as the longest-serving member of Congress ever, at 59 years.
Grassley is one of 10 sitting Senators who took office before 9/11.
U.S. Sen. Claude Pepper was Florida’s oldest-ever member of Congress. He was 88 when he died in 1989, at which point he was serving in the House and was the oldest sitting member of Congress.
The Constitution requires Senators to be at least 30 but does not set a maximum age. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat who is 39, is currently the chamber’s only member under 40. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy, who turned 40 in November, is next youngest.
Polls consistently show overwhelming majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents support congressional term limits.
Whether the Senate gets any younger is on the ballot soon enough. A third of the chamber faces voters Nov. 3, following the Aug. 18 Primary here in Florida, and the incumbents’ average age suggests most of them like the old folks home just fine.
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