No Country for Old Centrists

As the oldest active political party in the world, the Democratic Party has a long tradition of reinvention and renewal. Lately, however, the party’s age — it will celebrate its bicentennial in 2028 — feels more like a grim metaphor than any proof of boast-worthy endurance. As Democrats struggle to regain their footing after last year’s disastrous election, many now question whether the party is capable of adapting to our new political reality.

In Washington, Democrats are floundering. In the face of a lawless Trump administration that has moved rapidly to consolidate control, the party’s directionless leadership has led to a complete reputational collapse: the party’s favorability rating is at a record low, while a majority of Democrats are unhappy with the state of their own party. It seems fair to ask if the Donkey is plodding toward political oblivion. 

Much of the party’s current troubles stem from Joe Biden’s calamitous decision to run for reelection and the party’s collective dismissal of his cognitive decline. Both seemed to confirm the wider perception that the party has become a geriatric club, its upper ranks dominated by aging career politicians who just don’t know when to call it quits. Since Biden’s exit, Democrats have done little to rebuild their party’s image and instead have fallen back into the same old patterns.

Signs that a promised “reckoning” within the party would not take place arrived just a month after the election, when House Democrats elevated Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly to a ranking member on the Oversight Committee shortly after the 74-year-old’s diagnosis of esophageal cancer. House Democrats selected Connolly over his much younger (and healthier) colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who also ran for the position. When asked why they had voted for Connolly despite serious concerns about his health, allies were blunt: It was his turn. As the “ranking member-in-waiting,” Connolly was entitled to the spot by virtue of seniority. A familiar dismissive attitude could also be heard on the Virginia Democrat’s health. Connolly’s supporters insisted that he was an energetic and robust septuagenarian. “Gerry’s a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,” remarked Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.

As many have no doubt heard, Connolly did not get to serve on the Oversight Committee for long. In April, the congressman announced he would soon step back from his duties, and less than a month later — just six months after announcing his diagnosis of the often terminal esophageal cancer — he died.

Connolly was the third Democrat in the House to die this year, which extends an unfortunate trend of Democrats expiring while in office (the last eight members in the House to die since 2022 have all been Democrats, almost all of whom were in their 70s or 80s). Those deaths have diminished what little leverage the party had at the start of this year. Indeed, House Republicans were able to pass their “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill last month only because of these recent deaths by a narrow 215-214 vote.

Ironically, the same week that Connolly died, Biden announced his own diagnosis with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer, while journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson published their tell-all book about the effort to cover-up Biden’s health decline, “Original Sin.”

Although a political liability, the gerontocracy perception is symptomatic of a deeper problem stemming from the party’s culture of careerism and conformity. As Tapper and Thompson’s book makes clear, Biden’s precipitous health decline was an open secret inside elite Democratic circles. Yet right up until the levee broke last June, nearly all Democrats adhered to a strict code of silence, while denouncing members who dared to question the party line in public as useful idiots or worse (this despite a majority of the electorate expressing doubts about Biden’s mental and physical health). The party’s decision to crush any effort at holding a competitive primary will probably go down as one of the greatest acts of self-sabotage in the history of party politics — but also one of the most predictable. Biden’s insistence on pursuing a second term effectively ended any meaningful conversation about nominating a different candidate. Among Democratic elites, the only thing more unforgivable than breaking with the official party line is to support a primary challenger against a sitting incumbent. Especially, it seems, when that challenger comes from the left.

With Connolly’s passing, House Democrats have a month to choose his replacement for the coveted spot on the Oversight Committee. Several representatives have already thrown their hats into the ring. On the younger end are Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Rep. Robert Garcia of California — both in their 40s — who will vie for the position with their two septuagenarian colleagues, Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland. (Ocasio-Cortez has told colleagues she won’t run again for the position.) According to seniority, the next in line is Lynch, who claims that Connolly had planned to endorse him. Lynch is a centrist Democrat who has been in the House since 2001 — and he has reportedly already lined up support from some of his longtime colleagues. “It’s going to be hard for me and probably many others to do anything contrary to the current ranking member,” noted Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.

The Democratic Party’s sagging reputation owes much to the sense that its leaders are too feeble and too stuck in their ways to mount an effective opposition. The same polls showing historic disapproval ratings indicate that a majority of Democrats want their party’s leaders to be more confrontational toward the current administration — to “fight like hell,” as Garcia has said. Instead, party leadership has pursued the acquiescent approach of Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who led a faction of Senate Democrats to vote for the GOP spending bill in March. Much like Biden, Schumer is a career politician who remains wary of tactics that break with long-standing practices and procedural norms.

One norm that is ripe for consideration, however, is the cult of seniority. Unlike House Republicans, who limit their members to three terms as ranking committee members, Democrats have no term limits for their committee leadership roles. (The caucus rejected a proposal for term limits in 2022.) House Democrats could send a powerful message later this month by elevating one of the younger candidates to lead them on an Oversight Committee that will be responsible for investigating the corrupt and lawless Trump administration for years to come. Or they could carry on with business as usual, as many in leadership seem to prefer. But if the Democrats hope to recover the party’s image in time for their bicentennial birthday in 2028, they’d be wise to turn the page.