Old politicians have been big in the news lately, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel freezing up during interviews, now deceased Senator Diane Feinstein holding up judicial nominations due to health issues, and both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are older than former president Bill Clinton, elected in 1992.
So why is this?
“No term limits. And a lot of incentives to stay in office. And I can’t speak for their personal agendas, but I think it’s hard to leave the position of power when you’ve been in it for so long,” said Social Studies Teacher Andrew Hood.
A key “incentive” is the money gained from holding a position.
“You look at all these people, their net worth increases a ton by being in Congress. So what would be the reason to give that up?” stated Thomas Kuhn, social studies teacher.
It’s also very easy for incumbents to win, with 94% of incumbents nationwide winning reelection in 2022 according to Ballotpedia. Name recognition is one huge factor.
Party support is another big part of this, with the incumbents keeping access to party funds.
“The party knows they’re going to endorse you(an incumbent), whether it’s Democrat or Republican. They just want to win…The DNC, RNC, they don’t really care who the candidate is all the time,” said Hood.
Neil McCarthy, social studies teacher stated that “gerrymandering” was another way politicians can easily stay in office, with the current party in power drawing the voting districts in a way so that it will be uncompetitive and easy to win, saying “This issue of old age is really a symptom of this entrenchment of political parties.”
Funding from outside the party is also typically on the side of the incumbent, “The donors, they’re reluctant to back that newcomer because they don’t know if they’re gonna win or not…So most of your corporations if you look at the donations it’s to both parties because they just want to back the incumbents because I can keep this person in there, I can control them and know what they’re gonna stand for and my money’s gonna ensure support and access…and keep them in office rather than back in a challenger that might not win during an open seat,” stated Kuhn.
Adding on to all of this is a lack of term limits, “It (term limits) was considered in the 90’s but not so much for age, but now with all these old politicians there has been talk of bringing it back,” said McCarthy.
Ultimately though, we do still live in a democracy, where people hold the power. Kuhn explained that “Voters just need to be more informed and they need to get out of this partisan bubble of just, I vote for anybody with an R-next and anybody with a D-next, and actually really take a look and say who is going to do the job of representing my district and do the day-to-day job. And that might be voting for a different party if the person’s more mentally and physically fit for office.”
