with our election last week and its message about "change".
I found this article early this morning (published last week after the primary) -
District Attorney Larry Krasner calls on longtime chair of Philly Democrats to step down
Krasner, a strong progressive, is referencing Bob Brady, former Congressman here in Philly and ancient head of the party here for the past 40 years. He is LONG PAST needing to go. He should have been gone 30 years ago. He was integral in the fuck-up here associated with the 2024 election.
The "federal" (Congressional) primary here last week (that had some other positions on the ballot) was instructive as to where we are going.
The mayor went with the "establishment" candidate (Sharif Street whose father was mayor in the past), the member of Congress whose seat was contested (Dwight Evans, who is my Congressman, and whose seat is being replaced) went with Ala Stanford (who was never in elected office but had been an activist during COVID and I think was serving in the Gov. Shapiro's administration), and the progressive folks (including AOC and Bernie, etc) went with the ultimate winner - Chris Rabb (who was originally my state Rep. just as they redrew the lines, so I have someone else).
So there is rumbling going on where it should happen - BOTTOM UP. That will start to force changes at the top.
And as to this -
There's clearly an effort at the Congressional level, particularly in the Senate to block younger leaders from taking their rightful place in leadership
Take note that the Constitutional requirements for the Senate mean an "older" candidate right off the bat. The Constitution has a minimum age of "30" for Senators versus "25" for the House -
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei
Article I
(snip)
Section 2.
The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
(snip)
Section 3.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
(snip)
I think the youngest Senator is Sarah McBride, who will be 36 this August and was 35 when first elected last year. The 2nd youngest is Jon Ossoff (he turned 39 this past February and was 33 when elected in 2020). So when it comes to "leadership" opportunities, it may take some time to move the WWII babies and older boomers out, but I think it's starting to happen. If anything, it's happening faster in the House (as there are more in there).
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