Dianne Feinstein’s death wake-up call for young voters

by Addison Maley

Editor-in-Chief

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

America’s oldest sitting senator, Dianne Feinstein, passed away at the age of 90 on Sept. 28, illuminating a much larger issue in American politics: representatives getting older as their constituents become younger.

The average age of Congress members is 61, while the average American is only 31, according to brookings.edu. This three decade gap has brewed discontent among young voters who feel underrepresented and unheard by their elected representatives.

Baby Boomers (age 57-75) currently make up nearly half of Congress, while being only 21% of the U.S. population. Many of America’s most influential political figures are over 80 years old, including President Joe Biden (80), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (83), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (81).

Millennials (age 25-40) and Plurals (9-24) will make up the majority of potential voters by 2028, but some younger voters are doubtful that Congress will reflect this change in coming years.

MJ Snyder (12) finds “it’s a lot harder for younger candidates… since many of the kids my age have more of an apathy toward voting than the people closer to 60. I wish this [wasn’t] the case, but it’s hard for a lot of voters to trust a younger person because they fear that they’ll be irresponsible and have less knowledge than an older person.”

This, alongside other factors like name recognition and interpersonal connections award incumbents with huge success in reelection. In fact, 100% of incumbents were reelected in the Senate, and 94% in the House in 2022 according to opensecrets.org. Once a politician makes it into Congress, it becomes easier to keep their seat over time.

U.S. Senate reelection rates (left) and U.S. House of Representatives reelection rates (right) over time. Graphics by opensecrets.org.

In an interview with NPR’s Elissa Nadworny, Insider Data Senior Editor Walt Hickey adds that older incumbents have a significant advantage when it comes to campaign financing as well. “If you are an older member, you're able to shore up more capital to kind of fend off primary challengers… a bit better than, you know, younger members.''

New voter Madison Sheard (12) follows policy more closely than politicians themselves, “so it’s not always the same person. It’s usually the lesser of two evils, but they do tend to be younger.”

While up-and-coming politicians fight an uphill battle, Snyder underlines the importance of having a diversified Congress: “People born in the same generation experience similar things, have similar goals and beliefs which make them understand each other on a different level. I have very little in common with people above the age of 60- at that point in their life they’ve paid off college debt, started a family, they’ve built a life. I’ve done none of that, so the laws and legislation I want and need passed will be entirely different.”

As the American political landscape continues to shift, young people are vying for a proper seat at the table.