The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham, the 71-year-old Republican of South Carolina, has renewed criticism of an increasingly aging Congress and the systems and norms that continue to reward seniority and tenure.More than a third of U.S. senators are 70 or older. In the Senate and the House, that age cohort has grown markedly over the past few decades, and now makes up a quarter of membership across both chambers. Number of members age 70 or older at the end of each congressional cycle The New York TimesBy the time the legislative body adjourns in January — assuming there are no other deaths or departures — there could be 136 members aged 70 or older. And while Congress’s makeup is in part the result of voters reelecting familiar incumbents, there have been growing calls for a new generation of leadership.Mr. Graham’s death underscores a tumultuous few years that have been characterized by the deaths of older members and sometimes very public displays of physical and mental decline that have invited heavy scrutiny of the age and fitness of congressional leadership. Last month, Senator Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old Republican of Kentucky, was hospitalized. He released a statement on Sunday saying that he had suffered a fall and was recovering in a rehabilitation center after having battled a mild case of pneumonia.Last year, three House Democrats died within a span of three months: Sylvester Turner of Texas, who died at 70; Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona, who died at 77; and Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, who died at 75. This April, David Scott, Democrat of Georgia, died at 80 after facing scrutiny within his own party for his refusal to exit politics amid a series of health problems.The median age in the Senate has risen over four decades, reaching its highest point of nearly 67 years old, which is above the typical retirement age of 64 for men and 62 for women. When the current Congress adjourns in January, the median age will also be nearly 67. In the House, the median age will be 59. Median age of members at the end of each congressional cycle The New York TimesLawmakers under 45 used to be much better represented in Congress. At the end of the 97th Congress in 1983, when the median age was at its lowest point in at least three decades, some 30 percent of House and Senate members were younger than 45. By the end of the current congressional cycle, it will be 12 percent, with only 64 members under 45 across both chambers. Age distribution in Congress The New York TimesThe Senate’s oldest member is Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who at 92 is third in line to the presidency and leads the powerful Judiciary Committee. Methodology Data on legislators’ terms and their birth dates was compiled by the @unitedstates project on GitHub. Data and analysis is as of July 13, 2026.The ages of Congress members were calculated based on the day that a particular congressional cycle concluded, typically in early January of odd-numbered years. Only members who were serving terms on the last day were included in the analysis. For the 119th Congress, members who died or resigned mid-cycle were excluded, and the current active roster is used as a proxy for the final adjournment state.Minor party members were included in party totals based on the party they caucused with. If no information on a caucus was available, those members were excluded from the party-level analysis but still included in the totals.