The Party of Yesterday

The Washington Post woke up after last week’s election and discovered that the ruling Democrats are old.  I mean really, really old.  The Post’s Dan Balz wrote,

The past two midterm elections have been cruel to Democrats, costing them control of the House and now the Senate, and producing a cumulative wipeout in the states.  The 2010 and 2014 elections saw the defeat of younger politicians—some in office, others seeking it—who might have become national leaders.

After Republican wave elections in 2010 and 2014, Democrats nationwide have been left with a thin bench to replace aging leaders.  Here in Minnesota, we see something of the same phenomenon at work.

Democrat Governor Mark Dayton is entering his final term as governor at age 67.  His Lt. Gov., Tina Smith, is 55.  Sen. Al Franken is 63.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar is 54.

The much-touted “youthful” former mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, is turning 59 this week.  The only prominent state-level Democrats in their 40’s are incoming House Minority Leader Paul Thissen (47) and Attorney General Lori Swanson (47).

Former House Majority Leader Tony Sertich is just 38.  Former House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher is 46. 

On the other side of the aisle, state Republicans are rich in leaders a generation younger than the most-prominent Democrats.  Incoming House Speaker Kurt Daudt is 41 and the new House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin is 44.

The four most prominent Republicans running for Governor this year were all relatively young.  Nominee Jeff Johnson just turned 48.  Marty Seifert is 42, Kurt Zellers is 45 and Scott Honour is 48.  Nominee for Senate, Mike McFadden, recently turned 50.

Former House Majority Leader Matt Dean is also 48.  Big Republican vote-getters Congressman Erik Paulsen is 49, Sheriff Rich Stanek is 52, and Congressman-elect Tom Emmer is 53.

Republicans have a deep bench of office-holders in their 40’s and early 50’s, several of whom rose to prominence by way of Republicans victories in 2010 and 2014.

 

I’m sure I’m leaving out worthy names from both Democrats and Republicans in this survey.  But for once, time seems to be on the side of the Republicans.