Durbin says elderly lawmakers should consider leaving politics 'before they're carried out'

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested Thursday that more elderly lawmakers like himself should consider when they might want to exit politics and make way for a younger generation.

"If you're honest about yourself and your reputation, you want to leave when you can still walk out the front door and not be carried out the back door," Durbin told MSNBC, in a similar tenor to how he addressed his retirement at age 80 in front of his Springfield home later that day.

"And I've said whatever your interests may be, whatever issue you want to focus on in Congress, in the Senate if you stick around a couple terms, your minor is going to be aging. You can see it. You can observe it."

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However, Durbin added that it is up to each lawmaker when it’s best to make the call to step away from the Capitol for good, further suggesting that age can also be just a number.

He pointed to how Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who – while three years older than Durbin – continues to draw large crowds, particularly of younger progressive Democrats, at rallies against "oligarchy" and other concerns.

Sanders is also reportedly considering re-election in 2030 at age 89, as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) recorded a filing from "Friends of Bernie Sanders" for that cycle.

"I think it's more complex," Durbin said. "The bottom line is, are you competent? Can you still do the job? That's the question the voters should ask."

"But should a new generation be interested in public service? You bet."

Speaking about the future of the Democratic Party as the proverbial old guard begins to depart, Durbin was asked about his onetime Illinois delegation colleague Barack Obama, and how he first ushered in a younger demographic in the 2000s to lead the Democratic Party.

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"This is a different moment in history than I've read about or seen in my lifetime, for sure," Durbin said.

"This is the moment where there's a threat to the Constitution of the United States and our constitutional democracy. That is fundamental, and it's in front of every other decision of policy that we might make. We have to get it together. I will plead with my Republican friends. Stand up for the Constitution."

"That to me, I think, just supersedes all conversations about campaigns and even issues."

Durbin’s retirement was said to be somewhat attributed to the "Biden effect," the recent trend of elderly lawmakers announcing retirements in the month since the octogenarian Delawarean stepped away from his 2024 re-election bid amid intraparty pressure after a disastrous debate with now-President Donald Trump.

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Durbin and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., 78; Tina Smith, D-Minn., 67; and Gary Peters, D-Mich., 66, as well as Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 83, all announced their exits in 2025.

"You can see it, you can observe it," Durbin said in general of politicians’ aging. 

"And you have to make that choice, that decision. I've made mine."