By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will still be in her 30s in 2028.
There’s a lot of talk in Democratic circles about the need for “generational change,” which isn’t surprising given the proximate end of a political era dominated by the likes of Donald Trump (born in 1946), Joe Biden (1942), Bernie Sanders (1941), Chuck Schumer (1950), Mitch McConnell (1942), and Nancy Pelosi (1940). By the same token, it wouldn’t require anyone particularly young to show a younger face for party leadership than we’ve seen for a while. But while some have discussed placing a ceiling on the age of people qualified to serve in high office, how about a floor? Yes, there are constitutional minimums for federal office (you must be 25 to serve in the House, 30 to serve in the Senate, and 35 to become president), set when life expectancies were significantly shorter. But how about more informal expectations of when politicians are mature enough to become, say, leader of the free world?
