Oldest Current Members of US Congress

By John Harrington Published Nov 17, 8:35AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Oldest Current Members of US Congress — © Stefan Zaklin / Getty Images News via Getty Images

With some exceptions, there are certain professions or activities that are clearly a young person’s game, such as professional sports, mountain climbing, firefighting, and construction work. Apparently, serving in the United States Congress is not one of them.

24/7 Wall St. compiled a list of the current oldest members of Congress, using sources such as FiscalNote, oldest.org, and the biographical sections of websites of the legislators on the list. The ages of the current oldest member of Congress are as of Oct. 11, 2023.

The American Congress has become a gerontocracy, run by those much older than the median age of Americans. Prior to the passing of 90-year-old California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in September, the median age of senators was 65. (Also see, these 33 us senators are becoming more popular.)

Compared with the Senate, the makeup of the House of Representatives looks like high school government — the average age of the 118th Congress, which took office in January 2023, is 58 years. According to the website FiscalNote, this average was lowered because the number of representatives born in the 1980s almost doubled from the previous Congress, now standing at 64. To compare, the median age in the U.S. is 38.8 years, according to 2021 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Questions about the mental acuity of older legislators in Washington, D.C. have increased in recent years. The cognitive decline of Feinstein and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has raised concerns about the possible impact that advanced age can have on the performance of the nation’s older members of Congress. (These are U.S. senators who lost the most popularity.)

The current oldest legislator is Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who turned 90 in September. He has been in the Senate since 1981. Grassley has a ways to go to be the oldest person ever to grace the legislative chambers in Washington, however. That distinction belongs to Strom Thurmond, who served as senator of South Carolina until his death at 100 years old in 2003.

Here are the oldest current members of congress.

34. Lloyd Doggett (1946)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 5 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Texas
Assumed office: 1/9/1995

33. Barbara Lee (1946)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 2 months, 25 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 4/21/1998

32. Ed Markey (1946)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 3 months
Serving in: Senate
Party: Democrat
State: Massachusetts
Assumed office: 7/16/2013

31: Alma Adams (1946)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 4 months, 14 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: North Carolina
Assumed office: 11/4/2014

30: Richard Blumenthal (1946)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 7 months, 28 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Democrat
State: Connecticut
Assumed office: 1/3/2011

29: C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (1946)

Congressman, Army leader discu... by U.S. Army DEVCOM

Congressman, Army leader discu... (CC BY 2.0) by U.S. Army DEVCOM

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 77 years, 8 months, 11 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Maryland
Assumed office: 1/3/2003

28: David Scott (1945)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 3 months, 14 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Georgia
Assumed office: 1/3/2023

27: Jim Baird (1945)

Jim Baird (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Gage Skidmore

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 4 months, 7 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Republican
State: Indiana
Assumed office: 1/3/2019

26: Bonnie Watson Coleman

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 8 months, 5 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: New Jersey
Assumed office: 1/3/2015

25: John Garamendi (1945)

Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) by New America

Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) (CC BY 2.0) by New America

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 8 months, 17 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 11/5/2009

24: Dick Durbin (1944)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 10 months, 20 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Democrat
State: Illinois
Assumed office: 1/3/1997

23: Emanuel Cleaver II (1944)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 78 years, 11 months, 349 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Missouri
Assumed office: 1/3/2005

22: Doris Matsui (1944)

Rep. Doris Matsui (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Knight Foundation

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 79 years, 16 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 3/10/2005

21: Jan Schakowsky (1944)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 79 years, 4 months, 15 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Illinois
Assumed office: 1/3/1999

20: Angus King (1944)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 79 years, 6 months, 11 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Independent
State: Maine
Assumed office: 1/3/2013

19: Ben Cardin (1943)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 6 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Democrat
State: Maryland
Assumed office: 1/3/2007

18: Virginia Foxx (1943)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 2 months, 12 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Republican
State: North Carolina
Assumed office: 1/3/2005

17: Jim Risch (1943)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 5 months, 8 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Republican
State: Idaho
Assumed office: 1/3/1990

16: Rosa DeLauro (1943)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 7 months, 9 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Connecticut
Assumed office: 1/3/1991

15: Kay Granger (1943)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 8 months, 23 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Republican
State: Texas
Assumed office: 1/3/1997

14: Anna Eshoo (1942)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 9 months, 28 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 1/3/1993

13: Frederica Wilson (1942)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 80 years, 11 months, 30 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Florida
Assumed office: 1/3/2011

12: Mitch McConnell (1942)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 81 years, 7 months, 21 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Republican
State: Kentucky
Assumed office: 1/3/1985

11: John Carter (1941)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 81 years, 11 months, 31 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Republican
State: Texas
Assumed office: 1/3/2003

10: Bernie Sanders (1941)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 82 years, 1 month, 3 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Independent
State: Vermont
Assumed office: 1/3/2007

9: Danny K. Davis (1941)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 82 years, 1 month, 5 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Illinois
Assumed office: 1/3/1997

8: Jim Clyburn (1940)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 83 years, 2 months, 20 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: South Carolina
Assumed office: 1/3/1993

7: Nancy Pelosi (1940)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 83 years, 6 months, 15 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 6/2/1987

6: Steny Hoyer (1939)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 84 years, 3 months, 27 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: Maryland
Assumed office: 5/19/1987

5: Maxine Waters (1938)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 85 years, 1 month, 26 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 1/3/1991

4: Hal Rogers (1937)

Hal Rogers (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Gage Skidmore

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 85 years, 9 months, 11 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Republican
State: Kentucky
Assumed office: 1/3/1981

3: Bill Pascrell (1937)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 86 years, 8 months, 16 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: New Jersey
Assumed office: 1/3/1997

2: Grace Napolitano (1936)

190608-Z-FD650-1046 by California National Guard

190608-Z-FD650-1046 (CC BY 2.0) by California National Guard

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 86 years, 10 months, 7 days
Serving in: House of Representatives
Party: Democrat
State: California
Assumed office: 1/3/1999

1: Chuck Grassley (1933)

Age as of Oct. 11, 2023: 90 years, 24 days
Serving in: Senate
Party: Republican
State: Iowa
Assumed office: 1/3/1981

About the Author John Harrington →

I'm a journalist who started my career as a sportswriter, covering professional, college, and high school sports. I pivoted into business news, working for the biggest newspapers in New Jersey, including The Record, Star-Ledger and Asbury Park Press. I was an editor at the weekly publication Crain’s New York Business and served on several editorial teams at Bloomberg News. I’ve been a part of 24/7 Wall St. since 2017, writing about politics, history, sports, health, the environment, finance, culture, breaking news, and current events. I'm a graduate of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.