By Savannah Behrmann, CQ-Roll Call
WASHINGTON — “Young” is a relative term in the Senate.
A majority of members are older than the median retirement age in the U.S., and more sexagenarians are expected to land in the chamber next year. Of the potential newcomers heavily favored to win in Tuesday’s elections, five are in their 60s.
But youth may be a key factor in battleground races this cycle, as candidates look to paint themselves as change-makers and their opponents as hopelessly out of touch with what struggling families need. And that means a good chunk of the incoming freshman class could be under the age of 50.
Democrats, in particular, are eager to move past the recent angst in their party over age.
“Old age has become quite a big liability after seeing what happened in 2024 with [Joe] Biden running for reelection,” said Oscar Pocasangre, a senior data analyst for the Political Reform program at liberal think tank New America. “A lot of people were burned from that experience, and a lot of voters are seeking younger, fresher candidates. That, combined with a huge anti-establishment, anti-incumbent sentiment, has created almost a perfect opening.”
Ten nonincumbents under 50 are running across the 16 Senate races considered in play by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Eight of them are Democrats.
Some are trying to make the most of double-digit age gaps, including 37-year-old James Talarico of Texas, who is 26 years younger than his GOP opponent, Ken Paxton. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, who turns 42 this weekend, is 21 years younger than rival Mike Rogers. And in New Hampshire, 46-year-old Chris Pappas is 16 years younger than John E. Sununu, who is seeking to reclaim the seat he held some two decades ago.
“It’s very clear voters are hungry for new voices at the table and for a new generation of leadership,” said Pappas, a fourth-term congressman. “The electorate is very unsettled. People are rejecting the status quo, and they want change, and that means they want people who are connected to the community, understand how tough it is out there, and are going to work to shake things up in Washington.”
Pappas is seen as a slight favorite to help his party retain the seat of retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, with Inside Elections rating his race Tilt Democratic.
Over the past four freshman classes, the average age of a newly elected senator has ranged from 50 to 58, and the new cohort is all but certain to fall in that ballpark again, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis. While “the Senate could be slightly younger” than before, Pocasangre cautions it won’t make a radical dent in the chamber’s overall average age, which stood at nearly 64 years at the beginning of this Congress.
But midterm voters often signal they want “something different, and that’s what a lot of these young candidates are offering and running on,” Pocasangre said.
More moms
The freshman class could also grow the ranks of a rare group in the Senate — moms with school-aged children. According to Vote Mama Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to make it easier for mothers to run for office, just four women in that category are serving right now.
Among the Democrats hoping to join them is Annie Andrews, a 46-year-old pediatrician, who is making a serious bid in South Carolina against GOP Sen. Darline Graham. Inside Elections recently shifted the race rating from Lean Republican to Tilt Republican, and Graham took the fifth spot on CQ Roll Call’s latest list of the most-vulnerable senators.
Andrews cites her three children and affordability concerns for their future as her main inspiration to run in the ruby-red state, her campaign said.
Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s 47-year-old lieutenant governor who appears likely to keep the state’s open Senate seat in Democratic hands, similarly pointed to her kids.
“I have a lot of roles but being a mom is at the core of who I am — it influences all of my actions,” she said in a statement. “I think if we had more than four moms with kids under 18 serving in the United States Senate, this country would be in far better shape. We certainly wouldn’t have passed a bill that takes health care and food away from kids and families, and we’d have more support that helps everyone thrive like universal childcare and paid family leave.”
Others who may join the young-mom group include two House members who’re also the youngest GOP Senate nominees this cycle: Reps. Julia Letlow, 45, of Louisiana and Ashley Hinson, 43, of Iowa.
While Letlow seems likely to prevail, the Iowa race is rated a Toss-up, with the Democratic candidate, Josh Turek — also a young gun at age 47 — remaining neck-and-neck with Hinson in one of Democrats’ biggest pickup opportunities.
“Too many families have been priced out of the American dream because Washington has forgotten how hard people work just to get ahead,” Hinson said in a statement. “When I talk with younger Iowans, I share my plan to make that dream attainable again.”
“And as a mom, I especially love connecting with other moms across Iowa. We understand the challenges of raising kids today, and we’re fighting to make sure the next generation has every opportunity to succeed,” she added.
Millennial problems
These potential future senators bring credibility if they can connect with voters’ struggles in ways older senators cannot, Pocasangre said. For example, Flanagan recently bought her first home and paid off her student loans during her tenure as lieutenant governor, two major issues for young voters in America.
Those are issues that N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a Democrat running a long-shot campaign for Oklahoma’s open seat against GOP Rep. Kevin Hern, said she understands firsthand as a younger millennial.
“My generation was told that if we went to school, worked hard, and did everything right, we’d be able to build a comfortable life,” Thomas said. “But many of us have experienced rising housing costs, student debt, expensive childcare, stagnant purchasing power, and healthcare that can feel financially out of reach.”
If Thomas, 31, were to succeed in her unlikely bid, she would become the youngest sitting senator, taking the title from Sen. Jon Ossoff, the 39-year-old from Georgia who is favored to fend off a challenge from GOP Rep. Mike Collins.
That title could also go to the 37-year-old Talarico, who major polls show is running ahead of Paxton, though often within the margin of error.
Arkansas Democrat Hallie Shoffner, 39, is also in the under-40 hopefuls club, though GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, only a decade her senior, is expected to easily turn back her challenge.
“What’s best for Arkansas should be intergenerational, but I do believe I bring more energy because I’m not yet 40. My perspective matters because I have an 8-year-old son and parents who are getting older,” she said in a statement. “It’s important to have younger representation because we think longer term out of necessity, not in theory.”
Another young Democrat is Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, 42, who is running against appointed GOP Sen. Ashley Moody in a race Inside Elections rates as Likely Republican. Pocasangre said Nixon’s ground game helped her defeat a high-profile opponent in the primary and is something other young candidates are leaning on instead of “buying a blitz of ads for radio or TV.”
He pointed to the success of that strategy, coupled with a strong social media presence, for someone like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“I think it’s because they recognize people their age are not watching cable TV with ads,” he said “The way to reach these people, it’s either through short-form video, or actually finding them on the street and actually having conversations with them that feels more authentic than a TV ad.”
Those are things that Turek, a former Paralympian, has been highlighting during his campaign, often posting videos to social media of his door-to-door effort and what he calls “stair climbing,” pulling his wheelchair behind him.
And as party leaders in Washington and many Democrats across the country choose confronting corruption as their closing message, it helps to have candidates who aren’t entrenched.
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“Younger candidates seem to have an easier time criticizing corruption in politics,” Pocasangre said, pointing to the effort to ban lawmakers from stock trading. “People who are new to politics are very quick to criticize it, but then people who’ve been in politics for a long time are more resistant, or try to deflect from that issue,” he said.
Pappas acknowledged that many voters are skeptical of politicians: People “don’t trust that elected officials are working in the public interest and see a president who’s $2 billion richer, who has brought the corruption out in the open.”
“Voters are really hungry to change the way Washington works, for tough new ethical reforms and to root out all the corruption, and that has to be a centerpiece of the next Congress, if we’re going to regain the confidence of the American people and fix a broken system,” he said.
—Ryan Kelly, Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari contributed to this report.
©2026 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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