Democrats’ Problem Is Not The 70-Somethings Leading The Party, It’s Their Socialist Young

Andrew Ferguson, one of America’s great working writers, asks of the 2020 presidential field: “Why have national Democrats and not national Republicans fallen under the tyranny of the 70-somethings?” But the main answer he offers—vanity and self-indulgence—seems like a small part of the problem and does not explain the difference between the parties.

The contradictions are heightened by polls showing that, all else being equal, Democrats would not prefer a nominee 70 years or older. Indeed, as Dan McLaughlin notes, “Democrats have not elected a non-incumbent president aged 60 or older since James Buchanan in 1856, and have nominated only two non-incumbent candidates older than 60 since 1876: John F. Kerry & Hillary Clinton.” Yet the party’s 2020 field is led by Joe Biden (76), followed by Bernie Sanders (77) and the currently resurgent Elizabeth Warren (69).

Ferguson correctly notes “[t]here is a huge gap between where the energy and creativity of the party lie, with a group of dynamic activists and House members in their 30s and even their 20s (thank you, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), and the ruling class of 70-somethings layered far above like a crumbling porte cochere” and “[i]n the farm system that trains and seasons the leaders of tomorrow—assuming tomorrow ever comes—that gap signifies a lost generation.” To find the answers to how this generational gap opened, we should look beyond the narcissism of politicians, especially Boomer politicians.

Consider the Obama era. Over the course of Barack Obama’s tenure as president, the Democrats lost more than 1,030 seats in state legislatures, governor’s mansions, and Congress.

As Lisa Lerer wrote for the Associated Press after the 2016 election: “The defeats have all but wiped out a generation of young Democrats, leaving the party with limited power in statehouses and a thin bench to challenge an ascendant GOP majority eager to undo many of the president’s policies. To be sure, the president’s party almost always loses seats in midterm elections. But, say experts, Obama’s tenure has marked the greatest number of losses under any president in decades.”