Dan Merica at WP:
Maine Gov. Janet Mills’s campaign for U.S. Senate has reignited a contentious debate about candidates’ ages in a Democratic Party increasingly eager to inject more youth into its aging ranks.
Mills, seen as a major recruit for Senate Democratic leaders, launched her campaign on Tuesday. She is 77 and would be the oldest freshman senator ever if she wins the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Age has become a focal point for Democrats heading into the midterm elections. The party is still reeling from Joe Biden’s decision to seek a second term as the oldest president in 2024, before bowing out following a disastrous debate where he appeared to lose his train of thought, heightening concerns in the party about his age and acuity. Democratic losses in 2024 have led many party activists to urge a passing of the torch to younger leaders, particularly after years of dominance by congressional leaders in their 70s and 80s.
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Her entrance into a marquee battleground race, which has been expected for weeks, has already drawn some criticism in the party. “It just seems sort of irresponsible,” former congresswoman Susan Wild (Pennsylvania), a 68-year-old Democrat who decided not to run for Congress next year because of her age, said of Mills’s decision to run at her age. “We all talk about the importance of attracting new voters and regaining the trust of certain groups that may have fallen away from the Democratic Party, and I think when you do the same old, same old, that is the last thing you are doing.Noting that Collins, at 72, is five years younger than the governor, Wild quipped, “So, she would be the youngster against Mills.”
Mills is not alone in being a Democratic septuagenarian Senate candidate this cycle: 79-year-old Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts), 75-year-old Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) and 73-year-old Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) are running for reelection next year. But other senators, such as 78-year-old Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and 80-year-old Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), have cited their age in their decision not to run for reelection next year.
