The U.S. Senate is steadily aging but members leave on their own terms

The U.S. Senate counts prominent octogenarians among its ranks, but no 20-somethings at all.

That's because the U.S. Constitution requires senators to be at least 30 years old, with no such corresponding limit for elder persons serving in the role.

Yet recent eventsinvolving some of the oldestand most senior-ranking senators this summer Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and veteran Democrat Sen.Dianne Feinsteinhave renewed questions about whether an age limit would be appropriate.

The Senate membershipitselfis steadily growing older, andPaul Quirk, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, points out thatthe party standingsbetween the Democrats and Republicans are tight.

Add that all up, and there are potentialimplications for both partiesat a time when they need as many members as possible to be in good health and available for contentious votes in the Senate.

Butthere's no simple way for parties to remove sitting senators, even if they hold concerns about the fitness of specific individuals serving in it.

"There isn't any plausible way to force them to do it," Quirk, a specialist in U.S. politics, saidin an interview last month. The only realoption, he said, is to urge individuals to step down.

The entire discussion of the age-limit topic isenveloped by questions of ageism and political partisanship, as well as a lack of political willto change the status quo if that is even possible on a legal basis within a sharply divided political system.

"You're not going to get a constitutional amendment in the United States on anything right now," Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at Western University in London, Ont., saidlast month.

An unexplained pause

On Wednesday,McConnell appeared to briefly freeze up and was unable to answer a question from a reporter at an event in Kentucky, weeks after he had a similar episode in Washington.

According to video from a local news station, the 81-year-old McConnell was asked whether he would run for re-election in 2026. The senator asked the reporter to repeat the question before trailing off and staring straight ahead for about 10 seconds.

WATCH | Mitch McConnell pauses after reporter's question:

Mitch McConnell pauses, again, during remarks in Kentucky

12 months ago

Duration 0:48

U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell paused while speaking to reporters at an event in Kentucky on Wednesday. Earlier this summer, McConnell paused while speaking at a news conference in Washington and briefly stepped away before returning.

A woman standing at the front of the room with McConnell asked him whether he heard the question and she repeated it. When he didn'tanswer, she announced to the room that "we're going to need a minute."

McConnell eventually answered two additional questions though not the one about a 2026 campaign and was halting and appeared to have some difficulty speaking. Thenews conference was endedand McConnell left the room, walking slowly.

In July, McConnellpreviously made headlines after heabruptly pausedfor roughly 20 seconds during a discussion with reporters and then left his own press conference, only to return a few minutes later.

WATCH | McConnellpauses during remarks to reporters in July:

Mitch McConnell pauses during remarks, briefly leaves news conference

1 year ago

Duration 1:03

U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell paused while speaking to reporters on July 26 and briefly left the news conference before later returning.

Hesubsequently said he was "fine."Andaspokesperson said in Julythat McConnell, who also suffered a concussion earlier this year,intends to continue in his job as the Republican Senate leaderthrough next year's election.

On the other side of the political aisle, Feinstein, aveteran Democratic senatorfrom California,has also drawn attention for health-related issues she has been going through.

The 90-year-old Feinstein who won't seek re-election next yearhas dealt with a bout of shingles, as well as encephalitis and Ramsay Hunt syndrome. Her health struggles caused her to be absent from the Senate for more than two months earlier this year.

She faced renewed questions about her healthafter she appeared to be confused during a Senate committee votein July. Feinstein began delivering remarks, rather than voting, as she was being called upon to do.

Earlier this month, Feinsteinhad a fall at her homeand made a brief trip to the hospital.

Both Feinstein and McConnell have served decades in the Senate, as hasRepublican Sen.Chuck Grassley, the sixth-longest serving senator in U.S. history, who will turn 90 in September.

This group, along with the soon-to-be 82-year-old Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, comprise the four oldest sitting senators.

WATCH |'Just say aye,' fellow U.S. senator tells Dianne Feinstein:

'Just say aye,' fellow U.S. senator tells Dianne Feinstein during vote

1 year ago

Duration 0:39

When asked for her vote during a U.S. Senate appropriations hearing on July 27, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein began reading from prepared remarks before fellow Democratic Sen. Patty Murray interjected to tell her saying 'aye' was sufficient.

The focus on the ages of these politicianshas an underlying political current, said Western University's Lebo.

And while polls may crop up suggesting interestin age limits for elected officials, Lebosaid they aren't conducted in a political vacuum, and"the people who voted for a very old senator will typically be against the idea."

He also noted that the job of a senator is complex and requires a lengthy build-up of experience to thrive in. Elder members have presumably long ascended through that learning curve.

Debate over the age of politicians isn't restricted to the Senate: U.S. President Joe Biden, 80,has faced repeated questions about his age, though he is undeterred in plans to seek a second Oval Office term.

Jim Risch, a Republican senator for Idaho, turned 80 in May,while Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland is set to reach the same milestone this fall.

That means that by the end of the year, six per cent of the U.S.Senate will be 80 or older.

At least a dozen other senators are in their midor late 70s, according to online data from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

That means that by next year,nearly one-fifth of sitting U.S. senators will be older than all of the senators on this side of the border.

Canadian age limit

In Canada, senators who are appointed, not elected,unlike U.S. senatorsface mandatory retirement at age 75.

That's the result of legislation brought forwardin 1965. Senators previously appointed on a lifetime basis, however, were not required to stop working when they reached that age thoughthey were eligible for a pension, if they were 75 or older and chose to retire, within a certain time period of the legislation coming into effect.

"Few of the 36 over-age senators intend to step out immediately," the Toronto Star reported in May 1965, after the accompanying bill was given final approval in the House of Commons.

J. Wesley Stambaugh, a 76-year-oldsenator, was the first to take that step, in June 1965. Sen. Nancy Hodgesresigned from the Senate a few dayslater, also at 76.

Few of theircontemporaries immediately followed theirlead, with laterreporting from the Globe and Mail noting that just five senators in this age group retired from the Senate by the following February.

David Croll was appointed to the Senate in 1955. The retirement option came into effect 10 years into his 36-year run in the Red Chamber.

He would continue being highly engaged in his Senate work and commuting from Toronto to Ottawa to do ituntil his death at the age of 91.

Croll's long tenure was mentioned in news coverage following his death.

"He was the senior member in the Senate," the Globe and Mail reported. "Because he was appointed before the compulsory-retirement legislation was enacted, he was there for life."

Croll put in an 11-hour workday at the Senate on the last day of his life, according to the paper.

Western University's Lebosaid the U.S. has seen its own share of long-serving senatorswho remained productive and enduringly popular with voters throughouttheir Senate careers.

"A lot of these people who have been there forever are icons,"Lebosaid, pointing to the late John McCain, as one such example.

McCain, a Republican presidential nomineewho challenged Barack Obama for the White Housein 2008,served in the Senate until his death at 81.

"When he could get to the Senate floor, he was as sharp as anybody in that room," Lebosaid.

Veteran senatorshave been front and centre in key political moments in recent times, too.

Weeks before his 81st birthday, then-senator Patrick J. Leahy presided over the second impeachment trialof former U.S. president Donald Trump in 2021. Leahy did not seek re-election to the Senate last year and is now retired. He was a sittingsenator for48 years.

Change seems unlikely

UBC's Quirk said he thinks it's unlikely that an age limit would be imposed for U.S. senators, in part because they would have to vote in favour of halting their own participation in Senate lifeas older adults.

At the same time, any change to the U.S. Constitution would bevery difficult, requiring high levels of support from the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the states.

Generally speaking, Quirk said, in an institution like the U.S. Senate, the inability of a few members to participate in policy-making shouldn't be an insurmountable issue.

"There is generally less urgency about this kind of problem in a legislature because other members can take over the work," he said.

But the wrinkle in the U.S. Senatecomes with tight party standings that make members' participation in votes more important.

Western University's Lebosimilarly said he believes that "nothing will change" on the age-limitfront.

He said he also thinks many voters want to be in the driver's seat as to whom they elect or don't elect to office.

"Americans want to protect their ability to vote for who they want," Lebosaid.