The Daily Populous Friday May 23rd, 2025 night edition
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Since November 2022, eight sitting members of Congress have died in office due to old age or disease. All of them were Democrats.

Since November 2022, eight sitting members of Congress have died in office due to old age or disease. All of them were Democrats. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

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In the last two and a half years, eight sitting members of the House or Senate have died in office. Every time, it's been a Democrat.

Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, died on Wednesday at 75, after a battle with esophageal cancer.

He's the third House Democrat to die in the last three months. If Democrats had gained a narrow 1 or 2-seat majority in 2024, they would have lost it by now.

The streak of Democratic deaths could just be something of a coincidence. After all, there are plenty of elderly and diminished Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But Democrats do tend to be older than Republicans, on average. A report from FiscalNote found that in the last Congress, the average House Democrat was six years older than the average House Republican, while the gap was seven years in he upper chamber.

There are some potential structural reasons for this as well, including the seniority system, which Democrats tend to employ more than Republicans.

The deaths are just another data point in a long-running conversation that's been raging within the Democratic Party for years about age and gerontocracy, which culminated last year in President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the presidential race after a disastrous debate performance.

Since then, Democrats in particular have been taking age more seriously, including when it comes to who's serving in important committee positions. Connolly notably beat back a challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in December for the Oversight position he's now vacated.

Here's the full list of Democratic lawmakers who have died in office since November 2022:

SevereAnxiety_1974 on May 22nd, 2025 at 16:39 UTC »

Democracy dies in oldness

biscuitarse on May 22nd, 2025 at 16:29 UTC »

If there turns out to be some nefarious plot behind the deaths, I'm sure Jake Tapper will write a book about it in the next year or two.

JGCities on May 22nd, 2025 at 16:15 UTC »

Even now 5 of the 6 oldest are Democrats. In the House.

Oldest is a Republican, then 5 Democrats in a row, one Republican, the two more Democrats, one Republican and then four more Democrats.

For over age of 80 there are 3 Republicans and 12 Democrats.

In the senate 13 of the 16 oldest are Dem or Independent who vote with the Dems.