The New York Times - The Democratic age wars begin Author Headshot By Lisa Lerer October 17,2025

 The Democratic age wars begin

Author Headshot

By Lisa Lerer

October 17,2025 

The generational wars have officially begun in the Democratic Party.

In Massachusetts, Representative Seth Moulton, 46, announced this week that he would challenge Senator Edward Markey, 79, arguing that a man who has been in Congress for half a century is not “the right person meet this moment and win the future.”

In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills, 77, announced her campaign for Senate on Tuesday, and one of her top primary rivals, Graham Platner, 41, wasted no time before describing the contest as a “generational race.”

And last week in Tennessee, state Representative Justin Pearson, 30, who captured national attention in 2023 for leading protests on the state House floor after a school shooting, announced a challenge to Representative Steve Cohen, a 76-year-old who has served in public office for nearly half a century.

“Things are very different than they were in 1978,” Pearson told reporters, after a rally in Memphis.

Those three are far from the only Democrats looking at their party and responding with a hearty “OK Boomer.”

A party-wide reckoning

Age affects — and afflicts — members of both parties, of course. President Trump is the oldest man in history to hold his office. The oldest member of the House (Hal Rogers, 87) is a Republican, as is the oldest member of the Senate (Charles Grassley, 92).

But it has become a far more central political issue for Democrats, who are struggling to find their way out of the wilderness.

Of the ten oldest Democrats in Congress, only one — Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina — does not face a primary challenger, according to data collected by The New York Times. (Two are retiring: Senator Richard Durbin and Representative Danny Davis, both of Illinois.)

In California, nearly a third of the Democrats serving in the House face challengers. Those numbers are likely to grow in the coming weeks, as more candidates announce primary bids. State Senator Scott Wiener, 55, is preparing to challenge former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, potentially threatening her hold on the San Francisco seat she has occupied in Congress since 1987. (Pelosi already faces another challenger in Saikat Chakrabarti, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s former chief of staff, who put $700,000 of his own money into the race.)

Younger Democrats — a group that, given the overall seniority of Washington’s old guard, includes lawmakers well into their 50s — have complained about their party’s gerontocracy for years. In 2022, they successfully elected a younger generation to lead their party in the House, replacing Ms. Pelosi with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who is 30 years younger.

Their arguments gained traction after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance last year, with questions still lingering about his fitness to serve in his final months in office, or to run for re-election.

Joe Biden, on the left side of the frame, holds up his hands near the chest of Seth Moulton, who is pictured on the right side of the frame. Both men are wearing suits and speaking face-to-face.

Joe Biden and Seth Moulton in 2023. Moulton, 46, will run against a 79-year-old Democratic incumbent for Senate in Massachusetts. Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin

‘We have to renew our party’

In Connecticut, Luke Bronin, 46, the former mayor of Hartford, is challenging Representative John Larson, 77, whose complex partial seizure on the House floor in February drew widespread attention and news headlines. Larson, who has largely run unopposed in recent elections, insists he’s fit to serve a 15th term in Congress.

“There is a deep feeling in the Democrat party that we have to renew our party and just get a whole different level of energy and forcefulness and focus,” Bronin said in an interview. “This has got to be moment when we’re willing to look ourselves in the mirror and make some big changes.”

For many challengers, the age critique goes beyond fitness to serve. Younger Democrats are saying the unique political threat they see in Trump demands new ideas, tactics and ways of communicating. They’re questioning the older lawmakers’ ability to lead in a political moment that’s very different than when they began their careers.

“It’s not about how old you are,” said Platner, in an interview on MSNBC. “It’s about how old your ideas are.”

(Older Democrats, including Markey, have used similar language as they insist their ideas are indeed fresh, even if their birth date is not.)

At least a few older members have sensed a change in the political winds. In recent months, several have declined to run for another term, with many — including Representative Jerrold Nadler, 78, of New York and Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, 67 — explicitly citing the need for a new generation to take the helm.

But others have vowed to fight on.

“I’ve been effective from age 26 to age 76, and I’ll be effective at age 77 and at age 78,” said Cohen. “Because I do one thing, and I do it well, and that’s legislating.”

The argument is remarkably similar to the one made by Biden during his doomed re-election campaign. The question now is whether Democratic voters still listen to their elders.

One person sits on a lawn near stately buildings and leafy trees.

Brown University in Providence, R.I. The school struck a deal with the administration earlier this year, but has since changed its posture. Tony Luong for The New York Times

More universities are beginning to stand up to Trump

President Trump’s attack on higher education has lasted for months, but academic leaders themselves have only put up so much resistance. That may be changing now that the White House is pushing a plan to tie funding to fealty to Trump’s priorities. My colleague Alan Blinder explains.

Emerging defiance: Since last Friday, at least five top schools — Brown, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia — have refused to sign what the administration is calling a “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education.” In an effort to shore up backing, administration officials planned a Friday meeting with university leaders from across the country.

Why the compact worries academics: The proposal includes sweeping demands on campus speech, among other conditions. Some university leaders worry the terms are so vague that the government could rescind federal funding on little more than the White House’s whim. They are also bothered by the notion of allowing policy allegiance to be a factor in awarding, say, scientific research money.

From conciliatory to challenging: One university that’s changed its posture is Brown. It struck a deal with the administration earlier this year, but when the White House asked it to also agree to the terms of the compact, administrators, faculty members, students and alumni grew frustrated over what they saw as moving goal posts. Brown said no to the compact, some of which, the university’s president said, would violate its earlier deal.

A changing landscape? University leaders have faced months of pressure over how to navigate the Trump administration’s demands. Last month, the University of California sparked outrage for turning over information about students and employees to federal investigators. And with Harvard University’s victory in a federal court last month, plus the resistance to the compact, more college leaders are starting to think that they can — and should — take on Trump.

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