Democrats are too old.

[Self Esteem]

I'm sure this post will go over well but hear me out.

With the unfortunate news of Rep. Connolly. passing, that marks the third Democratic House member to die in office THIS YEAR ALONE. We're only in May! All three were older. That's on top of three congressional Democrats who died in office last year and the high-profiled death of Dianne Feinstein in 2023.

The youngest of those seven who passed was Donald Payne, who passed at 65 from a massive heart attack.

The last Republican congressperson to die in office was Jackie Walorski, who was in her 50s and died from a car accident in 2022.

Every other death has been an older Democrat.

Not only does that impact the margins, especially if Democrats want to take back the House and keep what will likely be a razor-thin majority if they do in 2026, it impacts perception.

This isn't even getting into the Biden news - the questions about his mental fitness and the fact he now has an aggressive cancer.

It's scary optics that absolutely hurt Democrats.

The reality is that the party's image is that of an out-of-touch one with leaders who refuse to give up power or pass the torch to the next era.

It was, for a long time there, Democrats appeared to be the party of the youth - while Republicans were the older hanger-ons.

Not so much anymore. Which is remarkable considering the Republican president is an old man!

But the face of the party, whether you think they're crazy or not, isn't. It's people like Vance and other younger members.

It's not Mitch McConnell anymore.

The Democrats? Jeffries is a great start - but Schumer is much more visible as senate leader.

The party needs to do a better job promoting the youth.

Connolly was was added to the House Oversight Committee earlier this year, despite knowingly having cancer, over AOC.

There has got to be a better way to promote younger members of the party because they often are the best at communicating the message.

I look at AOC or Jasmine Crockett and they're the ones I see making the point that some of these older Democrats struggle making.

I'm impressed.

Democrats need to realize it's not 2005 anymore. The older members of the party might be effective at compromising and deal making but right now, that isn't what we need from the opposition.

We need fighters and outsiders.