Economy

This Woman Is Now America's Oldest Senator

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Several of the people just elected or re-elected to the U.S. Senate are past the unofficial American retirement age of 65. James Mountain Inhofe, the Republican from Oklahoma, will be 86 on November 17. He has held his seat since 1994. However, there is one member of the Senate who is a year older. Dianne Feinstein is 87. Born June 22, 1933, she is not up for re-election until 2024. If she runs and wins that election, Feinstein could serve until she is 96.

Feinstein is the senior Senator from California. She has held her seat since 1992. She also was mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

There is a worry that Feinstein is too old to serve, or rather that her faculties at her age have begun to falter seriously. Politico recently reported that “Feinstein sometimes gets confused by reporters’ questions, or will offer different answers to the same question depending on where or when she’s asked. Her appearance is frail.” Her age also came up several times when she ran for re-election in 2018.

Feinstein is by no means the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate. Strom Thurmond was a member until he was 100 years and 29 days old.


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