The arrival on Capitol Hill of young women of color, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, appeared to signal the dawn of a new generation of Democrats.
But, for now at least, it is the old guard of the party that dominates its 2020 presidential field. The two front-runners are white men with a combined age of 153 years and a total of 87 years in politics.
Bernie Sanders, 77, has been in politics since he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vt., in 1981. Joe Biden, 76, entered the Senate in 1973 and spent 36 years there followed by another eight as vice president and two more preparing for a presumed White House run.
By contrast, Ocasio-Cortez is 29 and Omar is 37. They may be among the most prominent Democrats in Washington, but their leaders in the House of Representatives are Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 78, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, 79, and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, 78.
A Monmouth University poll released Monday put Biden and Sanders well ahead of the Democratic pack, with Biden the choice of 28 percent of Democratic voters followed by Sanders at 25 percent.
Neither are even young enough to be part of the aging baby boomer generation, the oldest of whom — already departing the political scene — were born in 1943 or 1946, depending on who’s counting. Sanders and Biden are members of the silent generation, which began in 1925. They would technically be the first silent generation presidents, though George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were each born in 1924.
Just months after Sanders’ birth, Japan launched its attack on Pearl Harbor and sparked America’s full entry into World War II. In 1940, the year before Sanders’ emergence from the womb, almost half of all American homes didn’t have hot water pipes, a shower, or a bathtub. A third of houses lacked a flush toilet. Almost 20 percent of homes lacked complete plumbing.
When Biden was born, a gallon of gas, the price inflated due to rationing from the war, cost 15 cents. “Casablanca” had premiered in New York City theaters just a year before. Americans were just starting to enjoy a convenient new innovation, instant coffee, which had recently landed on American grocery shelves.
Life expectancy had improved, with men living as long as 64 years on average.
Were Biden and Sanders one human, you’d be looking at someone born in 1866 at the beginning of the Reconstruction Era under President Andrew Johnson, with the Confederate states just rejoining the Union.
Biden has already had two brain aneurysms, in 1988, but both he and Sanders seem quite fit for their age.
The two white, male, septuagenarian front-runners represent an incongruous match with their party’s younger, diverse voting base.
Among millennials, Democrats have an enormous advantage over Republicans. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 59% of that generation self-identify as a Democrat or leaning-Democrat. Only 32 percent of millennials identify with the GOP.
During the 2018 midterm elections, 67 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 voted Democrat. Among voters aged 45 and older, the GOP held a one-point edge.
On the campaign trail, a candidate such as Sanders talks about leading a “revolution” fueled by the young and economically disaffected. Those close to Biden describe his case against Trump as a “reset” and as a continuation of the changes brought on by the younger former President Barack Obama.
But Biden has shown signs of being pre-baby boomer, Obama’s generation, in his outlook. Early in his political career, which could span a half century should he ever re-enter the White House, the freshman senator spoke about opposing federal policies meant to alleviate segregation.
“I think the concept of busing … that we are going to integrate people so that they all have the same access and they learn to grow up with one another and all the rest, is a rejection of the whole movement of black pride,” Biden said in 1975, just seven years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For context, just three years before Biden’s comments, the Tuskegee syphilis experiments had just ended, which was a 40-year-long inhumane experiment where the federal government observed African-American men with late-stage syphilis until their passing. Hundreds of men were promised medical care from the government but ultimately never received it.
While Biden was meditating on what desegregation would do for America, Sanders was mounting his first campaigns for elected office. While Sanders repeatedly came in third or worse place during his early runs for Vermont governor and Senate under the Liberty Union Party, he garnered enthusiasm due to his socialist message and years of activism in the Civil Rights Movement.
