Know when to fold ’em
Run for Something's Amanda Litman on why it's time for the Democratic Party to make way for younger leaders
How old is too old to lead?
The publication this week of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin, arguing that Democratic Party insiders concealed Joe Biden’s age-related decline, and the death yesterday of Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia, underscored the big problem Democrats have with their aging leadership. With the need for younger leaders clearer than ever, it’s just as unclear how to resolve the issue: More than half of House Democrats over 75 told Axios that they plan to run again in 2026.
Below, we’ve got a guest post from Amanda Litman, the co-founder and president of Run for Something, on what she sees as the damage done by the refusal to let go, both for the fight against the Trump regime and the future of the Democratic Party. Litman has been trying to address the issue since Donald Trump’s first inauguration, specifically by recruiting under-40 candidates for races in state and local elections across America (alumni include Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Florida state rep. Anna Eskamani), and she has a new book out, titled When We’re In Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership, which takes her insights into the need for new political leadership and applies them to leadership in any organization.
By Amanda Litman
It's been a sad few days for the gerontocracy.
Amid a big, gossipy book coming out about his age, President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Then, early yesterday morning, Rep. Gerry Connolly, age 75, passed away from esophageal cancer.
First, let me state the obvious: I hope and pray for President Biden's recovery. Cancer sucks. And my thoughts are with Rep. Connolly's family, who I know from growing up in his district and from even being an intern in his office during college — he was a good public servant and a good man.
This is all deeply sad; facing our imminent mortality always is. Death, illness, the ways our body fails us — it's all uncomfortable.
But that sadness and discomfort shouldn't stop us from having hard conversations about when it is time for aging leaders to let go of their (in some cases literally) dying grasp on power.
It's not just any one person — it's a system that has privileged seniority and entitlement over efficacy and purpose. It's a mindset that the individual is more important than the whole.
Rep. Connolly held on to the chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee even when the once-in-a-generation political talent AOC was eager to take the mantle. Along with Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas, the two other older Democrats who literally passed away in office this year, the three deaths have left vacancies that leave the Democratic Party with fewer points of leverage to gum up the works and stop the Republicans from passing legislation that will harm tens of millions of Americans (and likely crash the economy while they're at it.)
They, along with President Biden and more than half of all House Democrats over the age of 75 who say they're going to run for re-election, are part of a broader problem and represent a style of boomer leadership that has to go.
These calcified leaders have forgotten one of the #1 rules of being in charge: It's not about you.
I write about this at length in When We’re In Charge, my new book about next-gen leadership, a (ahem, well-timed) guide for millennials and Gen Z taking on positions of power and wanting to do things differently: Your leadership cannot be about your ego.
You've got to put your team and your mission or purpose first, above all else. Your responsibility is for the whole — that doesn't mean you need to martyr yourself or suffer, but you need to be clear about what your team needs from you to collectively accomplish your end goal, and put that first, above all else.
When these ossified electeds cling to power, they do a disservice to their team -- and in this case, their team is the American people.
We need to be able to fight Trump with every possible tool in our arsenal. There is no time to be delicate about some individuals' feelings. We have to bring our best messengers and leaders to the front, no excuses.
I have written at length elsewhere about the need for older Democrats to retire, and how, when they do, we should celebrate them and the openings they create for a new generation that can better excite our base and reach new voters to bring over to our side. I get people mad at me each time I do, calling me ageist or worse.
But we have to keep having this conversation in public, because as we're now learning about President Biden, we can't count on it happening internally, nor can we expect any individual to give up power easily. Even when the alternative is so much better (being an elder statesman with time to spend with family, friends, and mentoring the up-and-coming leaders sounds really nice!), too many will cling to the only identity they've had: "politician."
The stakes are too high to indulge this or stay comfortable. The leaders that got us to this point have neither the stomach nor the skills to get us to the next one; it's time for them to go.
For more from Amanda Litman and Run for Something, visit the links below:
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Thank you Amanda and Anand. As a Run for Something volunteer and (hopefully) soon to be mentor, I couldn’t agree with this more ! What could have been older politicians (wrongly) thinking experience is needed in this time is turning out to look like hubris. The Party has seen consistent decline from our base who have said in focus group after focus group that they view the Democratic Party has “weak” & “slow” “sloths” and “deer in headlights.” Their fear of young candidates is astounding, especially young politicians who have a fight in them. I won’t say progressive versus centrist because I think it’s really about fight versus acquiescence.
If any of your readers agree with Amanda’s take, I highly encourage them to become a volunteer for this great organization. Is incredibly rewarding and everyone here has some skill they could contribute to this organization. I believe it’s one of the most valuable ways to fight this slide into fascism because the current Democratic Party is not going to save us.
The word we are looking for is and.
President Biden’s cancer diagnosis is really sad AND we need to keep having the conversation about younger leadership.
When you use the word but between those 2 sentences- you negate your sorrow for the cancer. (You say you care and you really don’t. )
Personally- I think we keep having the wrong conversation. We know we need younger leadership and this is still not the magic bullet.. What conversation that needs to happen is the fact that 49% of voters chose the man who has shown in spades - in real time- that he is breathtakingly unfit to be President. The American voter failed America.