The Briefing Room

General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: 240B on July 02, 2018, 12:52:54 pm

Title: Dem generation gap widens
Post by: 240B on July 02, 2018, 12:52:54 pm

The Hill
BY SCOTT WONG
07/02/18 06:00 AM EDT

Some septuagenarian House Democrats have a message for their younger colleagues clamoring for a spot at the leadership table: Age ain’t nothin’ but a number.

Democrats in their 70s have started pushing back against some of the more youthful members of the Democratic Caucus who are making noise about launching leadership bids in the wake of Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley’s stunning primary loss last week to 28-year-old Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York.

Older lawmakers argue that just because Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), 78, and her top lieutenants are getting up there in years doesn’t mean they’re not progressive or effective. Instead, they say it’s their decades of experience fighting in the trenches on a range of issues — from the gender pay gap and gun control to LGBT rights — that make them the right ones to lead the fight against President Trump and the Republicans.

“If we get back the House, Nancy Pelosi deserves to be the speaker,” said Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), a Pelosi ally. “She is leading this effort to get these candidates elected. She is barnstorming the country. She is helping to fashion the message.”

(more)
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/394901-senior-dems-tout-achievements-as-party-generational-divide-widens