Democrats’ generational gap grows with return of Speaker Pelosi and longtime deputies

Leadership includes speaker of the House, majority leader, minority leader and whips, and caucus/conference chairmen.

Update (Jan. 3): Pelosi appears to have secured the votes needed to reclaim the House speakership. We’ve updated the charts and text below with the latest information for the 116th Congress.

There’s a new crop of lawmakers starting on Capitol Hill today, some who are three generations removed from current Democratic leadership. That divide — set to be the largest in more than 50 years — had an insurgent group of younger Democrats calling for change at the top.

But it did not prevent California Rep. Nancy Pelosi from returning as speaker — the first to reclaim the gavel in decades. Pelosi, Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), the top three House Democrats, all in their late 70s, are poised to return to the top three slots in Democratic leadership.

[Does Pelosi have the votes to become speaker?]

While no Democrat emerged to challenge Pelosi, at least 11 freshmen indicated they would not back her for speaker. In the end, most incumbents who had opposed Pelosi struck a term limits deal that would allow her to serve for four more years, giving her the necessary votes.

The result in North Carolina’s 9th District has not yet been certified, so that representative is excluded from this chart. Generation definitions from Pew Research Center.

Baby boomers are by far the largest generation in both House Democratic and Republican ranks, making up 52 and 57 percent of each caucus, respectively.

Fifty-six year-old Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), once considered a possible replacement, unexpectedly lost his primary to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, at the time a 28-year-old activist. She then became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

Republicans, too, added millennials to their ranks. Six new Republicans are of that generation including Reps. Dan Crenshaw (Tex.) and Bryan Steil, who will replace Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st District.

[Dan Crenshaw started the week as a punchline and ended it as a star. The real story came before that.]

But the average age for Republicans will inch up in the next Congress, after the defeat of some younger GOP incumbents and failure of other young candidates to pick up open seats.

In 1994, Republicans, led by House speaker Newt Gingrich, instituted term limits for committee chairmen, and several opted to retire this year. Democrats do not have a similar term-limit rule on committee chairmen.

Pelosi has pitched herself as the experienced political force that Democrats need to stand up to the president and the lone female voice in high-level discussions.

The Speaker vote remains an early test of loyalty among those who expressed skepticism or outright refused during the campaign to back Pelosi.

“I made a commitment to my district that I would not be supporting Nancy Pelosi,” said Rep.-elect Mikie Sherrill, a 46-year-old Democrat who flipped New Jersey’s 11th District.

Several incoming lawmakers ran in areas Donald Trump won in 2016 and distanced themselves from Pelosi, who Republicans have caricatured as a symbol of liberal elitism.

“I am not voting for her — no if, ands or buts, under any circumstances,” Rep.-elect Max Rose, 31, told Fox News. Rose beat a Republican incumbent for this Staten Island-based district that Trump carried by 10 points.

Not all freshman Democrats have expressed opposition to Pelosi’s leadership. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters that she admires that Pelosi “comes from a space of activism and organizing.” The same day, Ocasio-Cortez rallied climate change activists who were waging a sit-in in Pelosi’s office.

“Nancy Pelosi has proven herself as a first-rate legislator,” said Rep.-elect Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) on Tuesday. Shalala, a former Clinton Cabinet official, is the oldest member of the freshman class at 77 years old.

Pelosi, she would be the first speaker to regain the gavel since Sam Rayburn (D-Tex.) did so in 1955 at age 72. Pelosi begins the term at 78.

Her next challenge will be corralling a set of fresh-faced Democratic lawmakers, many who are less willing to go along with the party line.