CNN’s Jake Tapper Grills DNC Boss About Running Candidates in Their 70’s and 80’s: They ‘Just Will Not Retire’

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted DNC chair Ken Martin on Tuesday night about older candidates continuing to run for office.

In an interview during CNN’s election night coverage — taking place following major victories around the country for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere — Tapper called out the fact that the winners were significantly younger than many other Democrats who still hold positions of power.

“I can’t help but notice that [New Jersey] Governor-elect [Mikie] Sherrill is 53 and [Virginia] Governor-Elect [Abigail] Spanberger is 46 and [New York City] Mayor-elect [Zohran] Mamdani is 34,” Tapper said. “Your party, though, has a lot of people in it who just will not retire. They’re in their 70s, they’re in their 80s, there’s a New York magazine story about it right now, about all the members of the House and Senate in your party, in particular, who just won’t retire. Is the age of your candidates that won tonight — Gavin Newsom’s fairly young himself also — is that also part of what’s going on?”

The observation is particularly notable coming from Tapper — who was the co-author of the bestseller Original Sin, which centered on the failed presidential campaign of Joe Biden, at age 81. And Biden was hardly an isolated case. The median age of Democratic Senators is 66 — including 10 senators who are 75 and above.

Martin, though, defended his party’s elders — calling the criticism against them “ageism.”

“Look, it’s not a question of age,” Martin said. “Because at the end of the day, what people want… they want fighters. The divide right now in our party is not ideological, nor is it age. The divide, right now, is between those who are fighting, and those who’re sitting on the sidelines. I reject this idea — there’s plenty of older elected officials and older candidates, frankly, who are fighting. And what Democrats want, and frankly what Americans want right now, is fighters. People are gonna stand up and use the power they have to actually fight for their communities, fight for families. That’s the true divide right now. So I reject this ageism that’s out there.”

Watch above, via CNN.