Senior Black Members of Congress Dig In About Age

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

In a span of nearly three-months, five influential and long-serving Black Congresspersons have encountered career-defining duels over their age.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

In January, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, (age 88), announced her retirement before the June 16 primary will be held.

A month later in February, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, (age 87) heard her political opponent transform their age differences into a campaign issue on the stump in their South Los Angeles district months before the June primary will be held. Congresswoman Waters in November 2025 told CNN she does not plan to retire.

Norton is a former civil rights leader who helped plan the 1963 March on Washington, and an accomplished attorney. She was first elected in 1991. She said in a statement about her retirement at the end of this term, “Time and again, D.C. residents entrusted me to fight for them at the federal level, and I have not yielded. With fire in my soul and the facts on my side, I have raised hell about the injustice of denying 700,000 taxpaying Americans the same rights given to residents of the states for 35 years.”

Norton added, “I will leave this institution knowing that I have given you everything I have.”

The list also includes South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, 85, who recently announced his reelection bid, not his retirement. Clyburn will run this November in the heavily Democratic 6th District, where he is a favorite.

Clyburn said in a 2021 interview with Axios that there is a path for the next generation and that if they wanted his seat, to “come get it.”

“The path is there for the next generation; I never asked anyone to die for me. I don’t know why people come saying you need to step aside for me. No. If you want my seat, come get it,” Clyburn said at the time.

Now, few of these seasoned political leaders are openly confronting the age issue. And few of their much younger opponents are openly addressing their own lack of experience.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to seize the majority in November’s midterm elections.

Congressman Bennie Thompson

“Seniority is how you get things done in Washington,” Congressman Bennie Thompson told reporters after he easily defeated Evan Turnage, a 34-year-old who formerly served as counsel to then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Thompson has held his seat for more than three decades. He will become chair of the committee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, if the Democrats retake control of the House in November.

Another name on the list is Congressman Jim Clyburn. He recently told reporters at state party headquarters in Columbia after he announced his reelection bid, “I’m here today to say I do believe that I’m very well equipped and healthy enough to move into the next term, trying to do the things that are necessary to continue that pursuit of perfection. And so I will run a very vigorous campaign.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters who  in November 2025 told CNN she does not plan to retire, is being opposed by Los Angeles native and cancer survivor Myla Rahman. She is a 53-year-old nonprofit executive. She has said Waters is out of touch with her constituents in California’s 43rd district. Rahman previously raised less than $35,000 for a state Assembly bid.

Rahman, in February, told The California Post that “people are sick and tired of the same old thing. We’re getting momentum, momentum is getting strong, and we think that we will have what’s necessary to be competitive and to win this race,” Rahman said.