Former President Donald Trump’s nomination of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his potential vice president has further stirred up discussions about age in an already contentious election where age is not, in fact, just a number.
If the Trump-Vance ticket wins in November, Vance would be the first millennial elected to executive office. According to the Pew Research center, millennials are anyone born between 1981 and 1996.
President Joe Biden, 81, was the oldest person to ever be a nominee for the presidency until he withdrew from the race after pressure from several important Democratic leaders following his poor debate performance against Trump on June 27. Many blamed cognitive decline, possibly stemming from his age, for his debate performance.
Biden spoke about the decision to withdraw in an address to the nation on July 24, saying, “I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation.”
Biden has since endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is more than two decades younger. Alongside this, Biden’s exit from the race means Trump is now the oldest presidential nominee in history, at 78.
The Connecticut Mirror reached out to millennial state representatives from around the state to hear what they think of Vance’s candidacy, age, and young people in state and national office. Their responses have been condensed and edited for clarity.
As a millennial legislator, how did you feel about the Republican party nominating a millennial to be the next potential vice president?
Rep. Joe Hoxha, 34, R-Bristol:
“I actually have not too good an opinion of millennials. Let’s put it this way, my opinion on millennials is better than my opinions of Gen Z’ers. But, I’m glad that the millennial that was chosen was J.D. Vance, because he gives us a better name than what we deserve. I wasn’t aware of his story at all, actually, until the nomination… He has a phenomenal story, and, you know, hopefully there’s more millennials that aspire to achieve what he’s been able to achieve and get off their damn phones and get off Instagram and TikTok and stop trying to be influencers and get a real job. I’m not a big fan of the younger generations, I think we have a lot of work to do and we’re not doing a great job.”
Rep. Corey Paris, 32, D-Stamford:
“J.D. Vance’s nomination as a millennial candidate for vice president is no doubt a historic milestone. Millennials bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the legislative process, and it’s crucial for us to have representatives who understand and also address the unique challenges faced by our generation including student loan debt, climate change and economic inequality. Not that I think J.D. Vance and I are aligned on any of those issues. I am rather concerned, I will say, that J.D. Vance’s selection adds another level of divisive rhetoric and stances to the Republican ticket. And so while Vance’s nomination is significant, and is a significant moment for millennial representation, his positions on key issues raise some serious concerns for me, many others in my party and many other independent voters.”
How do you feel about JD Vance as a candidate?
Rep. Josh Elliott, 39, D-Hamden: “I remember reading ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ when it first came out, and I was a member of the left who was sort of sucked into his vision of America until I had conversations with colleagues and friends and recognized that he had done a really good job of sort of subconsciously making the argument that we should be dismantling our welfare state, which has been really important to lift people up out of poverty and get people into the middle class. And as I began to dissect his arguments, it helped me become a more nuanced thinker. I did fall prey, for a little bit, to what his vision was. I’m glad that I had that experience, but I think it also goes to show that he’s an exceptionally dangerous person and personality. That not only does he ascribe to far-right beliefs, but he has the propensity to be able to move people who wouldn’t necessarily be moved. I think that while Trump is more clearly and forcefully a problem in terms of moving our country to autocracy, it’s people like J.D. Vance who can do it more subtly and unconsciously, so I think they’re an extremely dangerous combination.”
Rep. Brian Lanoue, 42, R-Griswold: “I think he was a great choice. I think J.D. Vance brings a lot of life experience. He’s 39 years old and he’s lived a lot of life, he’s seen a lot of perspectives. You know, as someone who comes from rural America myself, I think we need someone that really understands rural poverty. Not only does he understand it, he has lived it. I find the perspective he’s going to bring very important and very beneficial, especially for rural parts of my state, like my district. He’ll be, I think, a great advocate for my people in Washington, D.C., and really, for all Americans, which is important.”
What are the benefits of having someone from the millennial generation be vice president? Are there any potential downsides to this?
Lanoue: “I don’t think just because someone comes from any one particular generation that that will automatically give them a green card to be either very good or terrible with what they do. We’re the last generation to grow up without the internet. We’re a part of a very interesting time. We’ve had experiences with really, three great generations. I’m a grandson of the World War II generation, my parents were baby boomers, and now we get to see the next generation of Americans, those in their teens and twenties who grew up with social media and the like. Somebody going to Washington, somebody being in the White House, with that type of perspective is very exciting.”
Rep. Christine Conley, 42, D-Groton: “I wouldn’t say the generation is just what I would be focusing on. I would really be focusing on the working class folks, like us folks who are in their 30s and 40s, which are your millennials and your next generations. We are folks who are having families, who are working in business, we have different ideas than the boomers. The boomers are more retired, so some of their ideas about business may be from the past, and not as in tune with the experiences of those of us who are in their 30s and 40s. We have a different perspective. We went through, as young workers, the bust of 2008 and 2009. We’ve been coming of age in a different time and have different experiences than the boomers.”
What do you have to say to voters who are increasingly concerned about the age of candidates nationally, like in the case of Joe Biden and Donald Trump?
Hoxha: “What I would say to them is to make your voices be heard. Go out and vote, go out and run for office if you don’t like the status quo. Definitely stop complaining and actually do something about it.”
Conley: “I would say we should be cautious, and not be ageist. Because there are many people who are working and doing good things in our state and are our friends, parents or grandparents that are doing good even though they may be a little bit older. Once you reach a certain age that doesn’t mean you are suddenly useless to society. So I think that when we talk about concerns with a candidate, or concerns with a person, if there’s a concern about someone’s health, if there’s a concern about someone’s stamina, I think tying that to age is discriminatory to folks who are of that same age.”
Lanoue: “I don’t think it’s an issue of age, I think it’s an issue of stamina. I think it’s an issue of being able to do the job. I think it’s an issue of the direction you want to take the country is, I think that needs to be the focus. That’s what we need to look at. Donald Trump is very capable, you look at his first four years, you look at what he’s done for the country. You look at where the country was for the four years of Donald Trump, it was outstanding. 401K’s were up, the price of gas was almost half of what it is today, a grocery bill was 50% lower. People were working and things were starting to get made in America again – and he was the oldest president of the United States that we’d ever had up to that point. Ronald Reagan before him was the oldest president, and he managed to tear down the Iron curtain and the Berlin wall during his presidency, he defeated communism, and there was an economic boom in this country. Dwight Eisenhower was one of our oldest presidents, very capable, very powerful, very able commander in chief. So, I think we got to be very very careful that we don’t over-essentialize age.”
Do you feel your party has done a good job of elevating millennial and Gen Z candidates locally?
Paris: “If we’re speaking on this locally I’m gonna be biased here and speak highly of our party in Stamford. Look, I mean we had five, six years ago, a completely different delegation. We have a state senator that is a millennial, we have another candidate running against a state senator who is a millennial, we have three millennial elected officials within the House of Representatives. The Stamford delegation is one of the most diverse delegations in our state. Stamford really can be a model for what the state of Connecticut and the Connecticut Democratic party can and should do in the future. I don’t know if we’ve gotten there yet, but I will tell you that we can and should get there at some point. I’m hoping we continue to elevate the voice of young millennial candidates that are women, candidates of color, first generation candidates and immigrant candidates. Because that’s what’s going to make and drive more inclusive and more equitable policy down the road.”
Hoxha: “Yeah, I think both parties have done as good of a job as should be done. I’m a big believer in the notion of picking yourself up from your own bootstraps and getting out of this mindset of parties, or institutions, or organizations doing something for a particular group of people. I think Gen Z’ers and millennials need to step up and do whatever they can for themselves, and not wait for the bed to be made, go in and grab life by the horns. This is America, in recent history we’ve had enough of a free system where anyone can succeed whether politically or in the private sector, so it’s really up to these generations to do more and usher their generation into politics.”
Conley: “I would say we should be cautious, and not be ageist. Because there are many people who are working and doing good things in our state and are our friends, parents or grandparents, that are doing good even though they may be a little bit older. Once you reach a certain age that doesn’t mean you are suddenly useless to society. So I think that when we talk about concerns with a candidate, or concerns with a person, if there’s a concern about someone’s health, if there’s a concern about someone’s stamina, I think tying that to age is discriminatory to folks who are of that same age.”
What about nationally?
Lanoue: “I think we can always do better as a party in that respect. I can tell you that some of the best supporters who helped me were those of the young people. When I ran for the first time, I was going against a 22 year incumbent. The high school kids and the college kids really supported me and helped me. They understood the idea of the new frontier of new technologies and innovations in science and technologies, and how they can revolutionize and change the world. I think that Donald Trump is certainly doing a lot to attract that vote, and bringing Senator Vance on board is a major step in that direction.”
Elliott: “My perspective is, what millennial or which millennials have been doing their work to build the relationships to be taken seriously at the national level? I think this idea of trying to tap someone to try to appeal to millennials is sort of not looking at it correctly. The fact is that anybody who wants these big positions has to have a huge range of relationships, they have to be leaders on issues, they have to be chronically building relationships, they have to be doing a lot to raise money both for themselves and for the party. People have to prove themselves–someone’s not gonna get tapped just because they have potential–someone will get tapped because they have a track record of doing the work and being an empowered and passionate person. For millennials to be on the ballot on a high level, they have to show that they are ready to do the work, and [often] it takes decades to build these relationships.”