Septuagenarian spike: Number of lawmakers in Congress over age 70 jumped from 8% to 23% in 2 decades

There are more members of Congress over the age of 70 in 2022 than any year prior, a new chart shows.

According to an analysis by Business Insider, the number of septuagenarians serving in the House of Representatives and Senate more than doubled across two decades.

In 2002 just 8 percent were above 70, while today the share is 23 percent.

And while nearly half the US population is under 40, just 5 percent of Congress falls under the same age range.

The shocking data is a reflection of increasingly frustrated young voters who have been calling for generational change in leadership – all while leaders themselves are serving longer terms and awarding each other senior roles.

Senators like Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein have signaled they have no plans to retire yet despite being just shy of 90 years old – an age that’s higher than the average life expectancy for most Americans.

They’re just two of 21 members in their 80s. 

But the gap hasn’t always been so significant. The median age for a Congressional lawmaker grew 10 years across 40 decades. 

Congress had a median age hovering in the early 50s from 1960 through 1990, before the next two decades saw it hit 60.7.

The median age ticked up again in just two years to hit 61.5 in 2022.

For the most part, the upper echelons of Congressional leadership are even older – with most above the age of 75. 

That rings especially true for Democrats, despite their traditionally more youthful voter base.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn are all over 80. Pelosi and Clyburn were both born in 1940, making them 82, while Hoyer is 83 years old.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is close by at 80, while his Democratic counterpart Chuck Schumer is on the younger end at 71.

The top three House Republican leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are over age 80

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) is 71 while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) is 80

Republican House leaders all fall under the median age of Congress – Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is 57, and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik is far younger at 38.

The Senate, given its longer six-year terms and higher rate of seniority, is older on average than the House, where members fight for re-election every two years.

A US citizen must be 30 to run for Senate. The average age of a senator today is 64.3 years old, according to the Library of Congress.

House candidates can be slightly younger at 25. The average age of those who serve in the lower chamber is just six years below that of the Senate.

George Allen, a former governor and senator from Virginia, told Insider that many at the US Capitol knew – though they wouldn’t say it out loud – that ‘certain colleagues weren’t up to the task.’

88-year-old Senator Chuck Grassley has been criticized for wanting to seek an eighth term in the Senate

Former Democratic Hill staffer Ira Shapiro wrote an op-ed in The Gazette speaking out against 88-year-old Grassley’s bid for an eighth Senate term, during which he would reach the age of 95.

In it, Shapiro excoriated current and former members of Congress who he believed served past their time, such as West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd – who died in 2010 after five decades in the Senate.

‘Robert Byrd, one of the greatest senators, who was a powerful opponent of the Iraq War at the age of 85, became a shadow of himself before dying in office at 92,’ he wrote.

Strom Thurmond was ‘a joke and an embarrassment’ by the time he died while in office at 100, according to Shapiro.

‘More recently, Dianne Feinstein chose to run at age 85, won another term, and tarnished her storied career; her decision to run is regarded by her friends and admirers as a tragic mistake,’ his June 2022 op-ed states.