What’s the bigger problem for today’s Democrats — senility or socialism?

The democratic socialists are on a roll, defeating longtime incumbents in primaries and running New York City. Every political commentator is hyperventilating over the socialist takeover of the Democratic Party. 

But there is another thread common among the Democratic primary losers: They’re old. 

Of the five Democratic U.S. House incumbents who lost, three races featured long-tenured incumbents with an average age of 72 and an average age gap against the winners of 40 years. Those three high-profile incumbents, Al Green (D-Texas), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), were reliable progressives — not full-on socialists, but hardly moderates. 

The GovTrack ideology rankings for the full U.S. Congress from 2024 put Espaillat as the 19th most liberal House member — two spots ahead of socialist hero Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Green ranks 61st, better than Reps. Ro Khanna and Kweisi Mfume. DeGette was the “worst” as the 105th most liberal, roughly on par with then-Rep. (now Sen.) Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).

Maybe they are not liberal enough, but the bigger difference looks to be age rather than ideology. Green, the first casualty, was also re-districted together with Rep. Christian Menefee. Menefee, a 38-year-old, first-term member, was endorsed by the Progressive Change Committee. Green had the overwhelming support of his colleagues, but he had been in public office for nearly 20 years.

In New York, Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic........

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