Jerry Nadler, 78, announced he will not run for re-election after nearly 33 years in Congress, citing generational change concerns following Joe Biden's 2024 campaign. Nadler suggested other aging Democrats should consider retiring to allow new leaders to take over while stressing that wholesale replacement of the party is unnecessary. He stepped down as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in January and faces a Democratic primary challenge from 26-year-old Liam Elkind, who framed the challenge around the party's geriatric problem and urged Nadler to retire. Recent deaths of three House Democrats affected key votes.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP Images Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced on Monday that he would not seek re-election to Congress after nearly 33 years in office. In an interview with the New York Times, the 78-year-old congressman said he was motivated not to seek re-election next year after watching 82-year-old former President Joe Biden's ill-fated 2024 presidential campaign and concerns in the Democratic Party about a growing gerontocracy. Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that, said Nadler, who acknowledged that a younger member of Congress could maybe do better and help us more.
I'm not saying we should change over the entire party, he told the newspaper. But I think a certain amount of change is very helpful, especially when we face the challenge of Trump and his incipient fascism. Nadler who stood down as a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in January was set to face a Democratic primary challenger in New York's 12th congressional district next year. 26-year-old Liam Elkind launched his primary challenge against Nadler in July by highlighting the Democratic Party's geriatric problem and respectfully asking his district's incumbent to resign.
The Democratic Party is dying. We're losing votes, losing elections, losing our democracy, and the leaders who got us here are refusing to retire with devastating consequences, said Elkind. In the last five months, three House Democrats passed away, allowing Trump's billionaire bill gutting healthcare and food stamps for millions of people to go through by one vote. He continued, Today, I'm respectfully asking my congressman Jerry Nadler to consider retiring.
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