A youth movement is roiling Democrats. Does age equal obsolescence?
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- Nancy Pelosi is facing the first serious challenge to her election in decades.
- Veteran politicians say there’s virtue in experience but differ over the need for term limits.
Barbara Boxer decided she was done. Entering her 70s, fresh off reelection to the U.S. Senate, she determined her fourth term would be her last.
“I just felt it was time,” Boxer said. “I wanted to do other things.”
Besides, she knew the Democratic bench was amply stocked with many bright prospects, including California’s then-attorney general, Kamala Harris, who succeeded Boxer in Washington en route to her selection as Joe Biden’s vice president.
When Boxer retired in 2017, after serving 24 years in the Senate, she walked away from one of the most powerful and privileged positions in American politics, a job many have clung to until their last, rattling breath.
(Boxer tried to gently nudge her fellow Democrat and former Senate colleague, Dianne Feinstein, whose mental and physical decline were widely chronicled during her final, difficult years in office. Ignoring calls to step aside, Feinstein died at age 90, hours after voting on a procedural matter on the Senate floor.)
Now an effort is underway among Democrats, from Hawaii to Massachusetts, to force other senior lawmakers to yield, as Boxer did, to a new and younger generation of leaders. The movement is driven by the usual roiling ambition, along with revulsion at Donald Trump and the existential angst that visits a political party every time it loses a dispiriting election like the one Democrats faced in 2024.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has become the highest profile target.
Last week, she drew a second significant challenger to her reelection, state Sen. Scott Wiener, who jumped into the contest alongside tech millionaire Saikat Chakrabarti, who’s been campaigning against the incumbent for the better part of a year.
Pelosi — who is 85 and hasn’t faced a serious election fight in San Francisco since Ronald Reagan was in the White House — is expected to announce sometime after California’s Nov. 4 special election whether she’ll run again in 2026.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s most serious primary challenge in decades is not just a local political moment, but a prominent example of a generational reckoning underway in the Democratic Party.
Boxer, who turns 85 next month, offered no counsel to Pelosi, though she pushed back against the notion that age necessarily equates with infirmity, or political obsolescence. She pointed to Ted Kennedy and John McCain, two of the senators she served with, who remained vital and influential in Congress well into their 70s.
On the other hand, Boxer said, “Some people don’t deserve to be there for five minutes, let alone five years ... They’re 50. Does that make it good? No. There are people who are old and out of ideas at 60.”
There is, Boxer said, “no one-size-fits-all” measure of when a lawmaker has passed his or her expiration date. Better, she suggested, for voters to look at what’s motivating someone to stay in office. Are they driven by purpose — and still capable of doing the job — “or is it a personal ego thing or psychological thing?”
“My last six years were my most prolific,” said Boxer, who opposes both term limits and a mandatory retirement age for members of Congress. “And if they’d said 65 and out, I wouldn’t have been there.”
Art Agnos didn’t choose to leave office.
He was 53 — in the blush of youth, compared to some of today’s Democratic elders — when he lost his reelection bid after a single term as San Francisco mayor.
“I was in the middle of my prime, which is why I ran for reelection,” he said. “And, frankly,” he added with a laugh, “I still feel like I’m in my prime at 87.”
A friend and longtime Pelosi ally, Agnos bristled at the ageism he sees aimed at lawmakers of a certain vintage. Why, he asked, is that acceptable in politics when it’s deplored in just about every other field of endeavor?
“What profession do we say we want bright young people who have never done this before to take over because they’re bright, young and say the right things?” Agnos asked rhetorically. “Would you go and say, ‘Let me find a brain surgeon who’s never done this before, but he’s bright and young and has great promise.’ We don’t do that. Do we?
“Give me somebody who’s got experience, “ Agnos said, “who’s been through this and knows how to handle a crisis, or a particular issue.”
State Sen. Scott Wiener is running to take Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, although the former House speaker has not yet announced if she will run for another term.
Pete Wilson also left office sooner than he would have liked, but that’s because term limits pushed him out after eight years as California governor. (Before that, he served eight years in the Senate and 11 as San Diego mayor.)
“I thought that I had done a good job ... and a number of people said, ‘Gee, it’s a pity that you can’t run for a third term,’ ” Wilson said as he headed to New Haven, Conn., for his college reunion, Yale class of ’55. “As a matter of fact, I agreed with them.”
Still, unlike Boxer, Wilson supports term limits, as a way to infuse fresh blood into the political system and prevent too many over-the-hill incumbents from heedlessly overstaying their time in office.
Not that he’s blind to the impetus to hang on. The power. The perks. And, perhaps above all, the desire to get things done.
At age 92, Wilson maintains an active law practice in Century City and didn’t hesitate — “Yes!” he exclaimed — when asked if he considered himself capable of serving today as governor, even as he wends his way through a tenth decade on Earth.
His wife, Gayle, could be heard chuckling in the background.
“She’s laughing,” Wilson said dryly, “because she knows she’s not in any danger of my doing so.”
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Ideas expressed in the piece
Barbara Boxer, who retired from the U.S. Senate at age 74 after serving 24 years, argues that age does not necessarily equate to political obsolescence or incapacity. She contends that her final six years in office were her most productive, demonstrating that chronological age does not determine effectiveness or commitment to public service.
Boxer emphasizes that voters should evaluate whether lawmakers are motivated by genuine purpose and demonstrate capability to serve rather than relying solely on age as a criterion for removal. She references former Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain as examples of politicians who remained vital and influential well into their 70s, highlighting that individual cases vary significantly.
Additionally, Boxer opposes both mandatory retirement ages and term limits, arguing there is no universal measure for determining when a lawmaker should step down, as capability and motivation differ considerably from person to person.
Art Agnos, a former San Francisco mayor, questions the acceptance of ageism in politics when such discrimination is condemned across other professions and sectors of society. He argues that experience and proven expertise should be valued in political leadership, drawing parallels to specialized fields like medicine, where seasoned professionals with deep experience are prioritized over inexperienced newcomers.
Agnos contends that voters should seek candidates with established track records and demonstrated ability to navigate complex crises and policy issues, rather than prioritizing youth and untested potential over proven accomplishment.
Different views on the topic
A youth movement has emerged among Democrats across multiple states, driven by generational ambition and dissatisfaction following the party’s losses in the 2024 election, pushing senior lawmakers to yield to younger leaders[1]. This movement reflects broader frustration with existing Democratic Party leadership among younger activists and candidates seeking to reshape the party’s direction.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at age 85, has become the most prominent target of this generational push, facing primary challenges from State Senator Scott Wiener and tech entrepreneur Saikat Chakrabarti, both attempting to represent her San Francisco district with newer perspectives.
Pete Wilson, a former California governor and senator, supports implementing term limits as a systematic mechanism to prevent aging incumbents from prolonging their tenures and to ensure fresh leadership enters the political system. He views this institutional approach as necessary to infuse new blood into governance.
The Democratic youth movement reflects concerns that the party must modernize its leadership structure and better connect with younger voters[1]. Younger candidates are positioning themselves as better equipped to address contemporary challenges and represent the party’s evolving base.
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