Trendspotting: Boomers Still Rule

NewsWire: 3/10/21

• A Pew analysis breaks down the new 117th Congress, which is still dominated by Boomers. Though the shares of Gen-X and Millennial legislators have ticked up slightly, Boomers continue to make up more than half of the House and Senate. (Pew Research Center)
• NH: The 2020 election featured unprecedented plague-year mail-in procedures, a record-breaking voter turnout, and memorably polarizing rhetoric.
• Some things didn't change, though. The incoming 117th Congress continued to grow older than the last. And Boomers continued their hammerlock on total seats.
• In the Senate, the median age in the 117th Congress is 64.8--the oldest ever. That's up from 63.6 in the 116th (2019-20) and 62.4 in the 155th (2017-18). In the House, the median age is 58.9--again, the oldest ever. That up from 58.0 and 58.4, respectively. (See "Why Does America Have Old Leaders?")
• As has been true for many years now, the median age of Republicans in each house is lower than that of Democrats. In the House, for example, the median age of Democrats is 60.6; for Republicans, it's 58.7.
• Gen-X House members in the middle of the age distribution tend to be Republicans, while those at the young end (Millennials) or older end (early-wave Boomers and Silent) tend to be Democrats. As a result, Democrats have a bigger age divide between incoming and continuing members. (See "Does the Democratic Party Need a Facelift?")

• As for generational turnover, not much happened in 2020. No generation's share of House members changed by more than one percentage point, except for the Silent, whose share declined from 9% to 6%. (Caution: These are generations as defined by Pew; I define their birthyears a bit differently.)

• So that's where we stand. In the House, Millennials now (barely) outnumber Silent, 31 to 27. But in the Senate, the Silent still lead, 11 to 1. That one is the new Millennial Senator from Georgia, Jon Ossoff.
• Boomers, alas, continue to dominate both bodies. They comprise 68% of the Senate and 53% of the House. And if you combine Boomers together with Xers, those two generation comprise a whopping 90% of the Senate and 86% of the House.