Why Is Congress So Old?

Americans under the age of 40 are radically underrepresented in Congress

Jill Filipovic
GEN
Published in
7 min readDec 11, 2020

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Lawmakers watch the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the Capitol Building
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The incoming Congress is the most racially diverse ever. It has more women than ever. A record number of its members identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

And yet, still, Capitol Hill is boomer-town. Baby boomers make up nearly 70% of the incoming Congress, a radical…

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