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At 80, McCain Would Be a Spring Chicken by Some Senate Standards
Wednesday, April 8, 2015 03:46 PM
By: Joel Himelfarb
Sen. John McCain announced late Monday that he will seek re-election to a sixth Senate term next year.
The Arizona Republican — first elected to the House in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986 — will be 80 years old on Election Day 2016.
That's old as presidents go, The Washington Post observed. Ronald Reagan, 73 years old when inaugurated the second time in 1984, is the oldest individual sworn in as president.
But as senators go, an 80-year-old sometimes seems like a veritable spring chicken compared with some colleagues. South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond served in the Senate until he was 100 years old. He won his last three Senate elections when he was 81, 87, and 93 years old, respectively.
McCain, who celebrates his 79th birthday in August, is younger than California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is 82, and Republicans Chuck Grassley of Iowa (82), Richard Shelby (80), Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) 80, and Pat Roberts (Kansas (79).
Three senators who served with McCain recently died in office: Democrats Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who died in December 2012 at 88; Robert Byrd of West Virginia, in June 2010 at 92; and Frank Lautenberg, in June 2013 at 89.
