Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had an interesting analysis of the prospective Democratic candidates looking to challenge Donald Trump in 2020. He gave a harsh answer when asked if he’d support a run by Joe Biden.
“It depends on who’s running,” Reid said. “It appears we’re going to have an old-folks’ home. We’ve got [Elizabeth] Warren; she’ll be 71. Biden will be 78. Bernie [Sanders] will be 79.”
Ouch.
The response by Reid, who himself is quite seasoned, is a critique that many on the right have been making for a few years. Already the Democratic leadership in Congress is up in age. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is 76 years old – a full 30 years older than Speaker of the House Paul Ryan who is 46.
Not that age is everything, but it should mean something for a party that claims to be the voice of young Americans. When your own senate leader is criticizing the age of your party's potential candidates – that’s a problem.
Biden had stoked speculation of a presidential run when he said he was “not committing not to run” to reporters.
The 75-year-old Bernie Sanders has not ruled out a 2020 presidential run either. He told Democracy Now that he will be fighting for his super-progressive causes for years to come.
“I’m going to be going around the country to try to do everything that I can to create a party which represents working people and not just the 1 percent,” Sanders stated.