Longtime Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly passed away last week at the age of 75. I grew up in Connolly’s district and interned in his office during college, and I know personally that he was a kind, good, passionate man dedicated to making our country better.

That’s why the last few months of his life were such a travesty. He should never have run for reelection in November and never sought the House Oversight Committee leadership post. He should have retired in peace. The fact that none of this happened is as much an indictment of Democratic Party politics as it is a personal indictment of Connolly himself.

Let me be direct: By clinging to gerontocracy, Democrats are guaranteeing the party dies the way too many of its leaders have.

In the last 2 ½ years, eight members of Congress have died in office. All eight of them have been Democrats.

Since January alone, there have been three deaths in the House Democratic Caucus: Reps. Connolly, Raul Grijalva and Sylvester Turner. In the case of Turner, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas is choosing to leave his reliably blue seat vacant through November. And the loss of all three make it harder for the remaining Democrats on Capitol Hill to stop Republicans.

These are the consequences of their decisions to stay in power, and the sooner we can gather the courage to say so, the sooner we can fix the problem. We’ve already wasted too many other chances to learn this lesson — from the public deterioration of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to that of President Joe Biden.

How Democrats Can Turn This Mess Around

Trump’s tariffs and budget will hurt Americans. The opposition needs to stay focused on what matters.

The aftermath of the 2024 election and our reckoning with Biden’s decline have triggered a wave of recriminations. Yet as long as the leaders of the Democratic Party uphold the system of seniority that privileges long-time politicians at the expense of putting our best messengers forward, the party is doing nothing to course correct.

When we fail to make room for new voices, we alienate voters who see a party that doesn’t look like them, doesn’t understand their struggles and doesn’t speak their language. We project weakness rather than strength, caution rather than courage. And as Democrats publicly reckon with the fallout from Biden’s decision to run for re-election instead of passing the torch, we risk looking more and more like the party of hypocrites every time a Democratic member of Congress dies from old age.

Enough is enough. Millions of Americans are about to lose their health care. Our democracy is hanging by a single fraying thread. This is not the time to be gentle with our elected officials’ feelings.

I’m the president of Run for Something — the national organization recruiting and supporting young progressive candidates running for state and local office. There are, at minimum, 1,500 millennial and Gen Z leaders elected at the state and local level just counting those Run for Something has worked with. The next generation isn’t just ready: They’re already here, already leading and already winning tough races.

They’re the future of the Democratic Party. They’re younger. They have more energy. They have more time to fight.

The Biden Coverup Needs a Full Airing

There is not a single older Democrat who couldn’t step aside and make space for a vibrant primary of young, diverse leaders. Some, including 26-year veteran of Congress Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, already have, and we commend them for their selfless decisions.

The party that claims to champion the future cannot be led by those stuck in the past. It cannot be led by those privileged enough to believe they’re irreplaceable. Legacy should be defined not by how long you held power, but by how well you transferred it.

Democrats can continue the slow, painful march toward irrelevance, or we can embrace generational change.

Original article: usnews.com