Age is big in 2024 national elections, with President Joe Biden, 81, dropping out after a poor debate against 78-year-old Republican rival Donald Trump, who’s had geriatric stumbles of his own adjusting to new opponent Kamala Harris, 59.
In Congress, senators’ average age hit 65.3 in the 118th Congress, up from 62.4 in the 115th. The historically younger House averages 58.
It’s fair for voters to worry about age. Older lawmakers generally protect the status quo that protects them. Younger ones tend to focus more on the future, in which they have a greater stake.
In Hawaii, political talk of age is discouraged, and that’s a mistake. It’s partly because we revere kupuna, believing wisdom comes with age. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.
Then there’s the “wait your turn” mentality of our dominant Democratic Party. Young upstarts are discouraged from challenging entrenched incumbents, and newly elected legislators are expected to be seen and not heard.
Our aging officialdom sucks the energy out of government, as our pressing problems are kicked down the road year after year.
Compare this with the bursting political energy of early statehood, when upstart lawmakers skillfully built the crucial institutions and infrastructure so poorly maintained by their modern successors.
Gov. Josh Green, 54, is one of Hawaii’s youngest top officials, following immediate predecessors in their 60s and 70s.
Consider that legendary Gov. John Burns was elected at 53 and considered the “old man” of Democratic politics at the time. His lieutenant governor, William Richardson, was 43. Current Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke is 56 and will be 63 if she’s elected to succeed Green after two terms — not unduly old, but in the “senior-citizen Turk” range as she’s described it herself.
Hawaii’s early congressional delegation included Daniel Inouye, elected at 34; Patsy Mink, elected at 37; and Thomas Gill, elected at 40.
Inouye died while still serving in the Senate at 88, and Sen. Daniel Akaka retired at the same age. The delegation got younger then, but average age is moving back up.
Sen. Mazie Hirono is running for reelection at 76 for a six-year term that would take her to 82. And she’s Hawaii’s junior senator.
Sen. Brian Schatz, not up for election this year, is senior senator by virtue of being sworn in a few days earlier than Hirono in 2012. He’s only 51 and our most influential Washington delegate.
Rep. Ed Case, who once ran against Akaka arguing he was too old, is now 71 himself as he seeks a new term. Rep. Jill Tokuda is the delegation’s baby at 48; otherwise, leaders in their 40s and 30s are scarce.
House Speaker Scott Saiki is 60, and Senate President Ron Kouchi is 66. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi is seeking reelection at 77.
This election offers little chance of wholesale change with incumbents so well protected, but youngish state legislators have shown signs of independence.
We need them to bring back early-statehood energy by organizing, asserting themselves loudly and pushing to open our elections to new blood via term limits, public financing and top-two primaries.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
