Democrats are fighting a “geriatric problem”

For 33 years, Congressman’s “world -renowned Fish Fly” is a mandatory event for members of the Democratic Party, with which he hopes to make a splash on the national stage. But after a bladder selective defeat and with an aging Old Guard, some wonder if it’s time for the party to make some new traditions.

It was just over five years here in South Carolina, then, 79-year-old Kleibran, a democratic producer of a king in the state, gave the then 77-year-old Joe Biden his highly cherished presidential approval. His past photos – like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – all won the party nomination, if not the White House.

Claberne’s approval for Biden is considered to be a support for the former Vice President to win the main part of South Carolina and to turn a tide into his fight campaign. Since then, the Democrats had to reassess their choice for the aging Biden-who rudely abandoned his candidacy for re-election last year amid the increasing moment of questions about his competence.

Following his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, lost by Donald Trump, were wondering if he had been hung for too long. Then last month, Biden announced that there was prostate cancer at stage 4, a condition with a gloomy prognosis that would lead to a national crisis if he had managed to win a re -election.

Now, many of the party, including some of those who have dinner for fried fish and white bread at the collection of Clibern last Friday, wonder if it is time for the party to find new blood – especially after three Congress Democrats died only this year. The losses meant that the subtle majority of Republicans in Congress has been strengthened, allowing them to cross the conflicting Trump’s one voice bill.

“We have a geriatric problem,” said Ashley McIntyre Stewart, specifically noting the recent Chamber’s cost bill. “We have to include the more junior community so that we do not have the Republicans on the railway line.”

According to a study last month by Axios, more than half of the 30 Democrats in the House over 75 years of age plan to seek re-election next year, including Clibern, whose term will end when he is 88 if he wins.

The Politician is making fun of the idea of ​​retirement.

“I will answer South Carolina voters,” he told the media, who are in Fish Fry. “I’ve been with them all month and none of them told me that they thought I was too old. Each of them told me, please don’t leave.”

He also shook about the second divination whether Biden had to back down earlier, saying that his children and grandchildren were not interested in the election of the former president.

“They will ask me what you did to make sure I have a better life,” he said. “That’s all I concentrate on.”

Democratic voters tend to accept the risks that come with the election of more adult politicians as a prioritize governing experience over youth and vitality. In 2024, only two democratic participants in the congress lost the nomination of their party, both of them – Corey Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bauman of New York – were relative newcomers under the age of 50.

Republicans also have their own harvest of adult politicians, including the 78-year-old president. But the 2020 election elections and Biden’s health discoveries caused some introspection.

William Godwin, a Democrat from Chicago, visits South Carolina and stopped from the fish to see Claibne and hear from the two democratic governors, Tim Walz from Minnesota and Wes Merland, invited to speak. He said he respected the wisdom of elderly politicians such as Clibern and Biden, but his party needs a youth movement.

“We need activists,” he said. “We need energy from all different environments – not just age – to really come to put our hands and work to win some real choices.”

There are signs that some young upts are in line: Saikat Chakraarti, the 39-year-old former head of the headquarters of a representative Alexandria Okasio-Cortes, is a disputing former home spokesman Nancy Pelosi in her primary congress of San Francisco. Jake Rakov, 37, leaves after his former boss’s headquarters, a 15-year-old acting reporter Brad Sherman, 70 years old.

Voters are craving “new ideas and new energy to get the congress to work again again”, “” He told a local newsletter, the Bay area reporter in April.

At Fish Fry, winning the election after last year’s disappointment and the challenges of Trump’s aggressive agenda for a second term were at the center of speeches by two democratic governors, who are also potential presidential hopes in 2028.

Walz, the 61-year-old, who was nominated as Vice President of his party last year, may not be exactly a fresh person they were looking for at the party, even though he received a warm reception from South Carolina’s audience. Merland-46-year-old military veteran, who is only the third black governor in the history of the United States, genetrates the most animated answer, as he says that the “bank” is in the hands of its generation.

“We have to send a message that the whole country will hear,” he said. “This is our time. This is our moment. We will not shake, we will not flicker, we will not blink. We will win, just like those who came before us.”

Democrats may have won in the past, but last year’s defeat was particularly sustainable and Trump’s first months back in power put the party in a deep hole, with value work is needed to restore state programs supported by Democrats and filling workers who were reduced by Republicans.

“I gave credit to Donald Trump for this,” Walz said. “He moves so fast and so fast for bad things, better to be ready to move fast and to fast for good things.”

Walz said the Democrats should have “difficult conversations” about how to win the voters who turned to Trump last year.

In a few years, South Carolina will again be the main field of battle in the fight for the democratic presidential nomination. The appearance of the candidate who goes to the top will be determined in part from the conversations – including how to balance age and experience with youth and energy – to happen to this fish fried and other democratic gatherings across the country in the coming days.