Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent hospitalization raised questions about the 84-year-old’s health.
It also revived a debate about how old is too old to serve in public office.
The U.S. Congress has no maximum age limit for service. There is a minimum age: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, and members of the U.S. Senate must be at least 30.
Most Americans support a maximum age limit for public officials. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found 79% of Americans favor adding maximum age limits for elected officials in Washington, and 74% support age limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices.
But adding an age cap has proved difficult. Amending the U.S. Constitution would require two-thirds of the members in both the House and the Senate to support it, and then three-fourths of state Legislatures to approve it. The most recent constitutional amendment − a policy about congressional salaries − was ratified in 1992, more than 200 years after Congress approved it.
“Are there members of Congress who, in fact, should no longer be there because of mental infirmity? Of course there are,” said Herb Asher, professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University. But, practically speaking, “it’s not going to happen.”
Asher also questioned whether it should happen. “If you put in an arbitrary age limit, then you’re going to deny the country some really talented people,” he said.
How old are members of Congress?
McConnell’s hospitalization, which he recently revealed stemmed from a June fall, is not the first health scare to prompt renewed debate about lawmakers’ ages.
In 2025, 81-year-old Texas Rep. Kay Granger missed months of votes because of “dementia issues,” according to the Dallas Morning News. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s health was the subject of much debate before she died in office at the age of 90.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham died July 11 of an arterial tear at age 71. He was the 17th member of Congress to die in office since 2020.
How old are members of Congress? The median age of voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives was 57.5 years old at the beginning of the 2025-2026 session. The U.S. Senate’s median age was 64.7 years old, according to the Pew Research Center. Both numbers were down slightly from recent Congresses, but were among the oldest chambers in history.
Ohio’s congressional delegation is similar in age, with a median age of 57 in the House and 58 in the Senate.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat running for reelection, is Ohio’s oldest member of Congress at 80 years old and the longest-serving woman in congressional history. Cleveland-area Rep. Max Miller, a Republican, is the state’s youngest member of Congress at 37 years old.
Attack ads against Kaptur mention her lengthy political career and label her as a “career politician,” but they don’t expressly discuss age. Kaptur’s Republican challenger, former state Rep. Derek Merrin, is 40 years old. Kaptur defeated Merrin in 2024, so the 2026 race is a rematch.
Ohio’s two senators, Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, are 59 and 58 years old, respectively. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat running to unseat Husted, is 73 years old.
In Ohio, one office has a maximum age limit. Judges cannot run if they would be 70 or older upon taking office.
Ohio has term limits for state executive officials and lawmakers, but no age limits. At 79 years old, Gov. Mike DeWine is the second-oldest sitting governor in the country. Alabama’s Kay Ivey is the oldest at 81.
If age limits aren’t likely, what are the alternatives?
While popular with voters, maximum age limits aren’t likely to pass Congress or be ratified by the states.
Instead, Asher said Congress and local political leaders could do a better job policing their own members and encouraging those with signs of decline to retire.
But it’s difficult to criticize peers publicly or ask long-serving members to leave politically competitive seats, Asher said. In some cases, calls for older members to resign were motivated more by political opportunism than genuine concern, he added.
In the end, voters have the final say in whether members of Congress return to Washington − regardless of their age.
The oldest sitting U.S. senator, 92-year-old Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has been elected to the chamber eight times since 1980. Local media reported he’s leaving the door open for a reelection bid in 2028.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@gannett.com or @jbalmert on X.
Do you think Congress should have age limits?
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: McConnell’s health revives debate about age limits for Congress
Reporting by Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
