The Pine Tree State is no stranger to sending septuagenarians to represent it in Washington, with three of Maine’s four current members of Congress already over 70 years old. But depending on how the Nov. 3 election plays out, Maine could have its entire group of federal lawmakers be older than 70 for the first time in the state’s 200-plus-year history. 

If Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree win reelection, and if former Republican Gov. Paul LePage wins Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, they would join independent Sen. Angus King to form Maine’s first-ever delegation of senators and representatives who have all eclipsed 70. Pingree is 71, Collins is 73, LePage is 78 and King is 82. 

The youngest member of Maine’s current federal delegation, 44-year-old Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, is retiring from the 2nd District seat. 

Pingree is heavily favored to win in Maine’s more liberal 1st District, but even if she loses, the district will be represented by someone over 70. The Republican challenger, Ron Russell, is also in his early 70s. The Democratic nominees in the 2nd District and the Senate race are younger: Matt Dunlap is 61 and Troy Jackson is 58.

Maine has the oldest population in the country, according to 2025 data from the U.S. Census Bureau that puts the state’s median age at nearly 45. 

The Maine Monitor reviewed the age of Maine’s U.S. senators and representatives dating back to the state’s inception in 1820 to determine that an all-70-plus delegation has never happened in Maine history. 

The current U.S. Congress began its session with more lawmakers over the age of 70 than ever before in modern American history, a New York Times analysis found last year. Those historic numbers come after U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high of 79 in 2024 — and at a time when considerations about age have become increasingly prominent in U.S. politics. Former President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race amid age and fitness concerns drew nationwide attention to the age of U.S. political leaders.

Biden’s prominent departure dissipated some of the reluctance to introduce questions of age into the political discourse, according to professor Mark Brewer, the chair of the political science department at the University of Maine. 

“It’s legitimate grounds for conversation,” Brewer said in an interview earlier this fall. 

And while Brewer said he thinks age is sometimes used as a political dig in cases where it’s not necessarily warranted, he sees the issue playing an expanded role in U.S. politics at the moment. 

“People are talking about age limits on the Supreme Court, should there be age limits in the Senate,” Brewer added. “Those conversations have existed before, but they were at the margins, and now they’re front and center.”

Brewer had been thinking about age in politics as more of a national issue than a state one, but said it undoubtedly played a role in at least one of Maine’s major races this year: The Democratic Senate primary. 

‘Age is a consideration’

In what may seem like a distant memory, much of Maine’s Democratic primary to choose a nominee to face Collins was a showdown between Gov. Janet Mills and the previously unknown Graham Platner. Despite being a sitting governor who had twice won statewide elections, Mills struggled to gain traction against Platner’s upstart momentum. 

At 79 by the time the new Congress is sworn in, Mills would have been the oldest freshman senator ever. As a political outsider in his early 40s, Platner had tapped into an insurgent wave crashing through the American political left. 

Long before Platner’s eventual withdrawal from the Senate race and the Democratic scramble to choose Jackson as the replacement nominee, Mills had acknowledged the reality that age perceptions were factoring into the primary. 

“Age is a consideration. I’m not stupid. I know that age is a consideration, and it’s a consideration for me,” Mills said in January, as reported by News Center Maine. “I thought about it for me over the summer. But I’m in good health.”

Frustrations over the age of politicians, and the desire for younger, anti-establishment candidates, Brewer said, may help explain why Democrats stuck with Platner as long as they did through repeated scandals — until he eventually bowed to pressure to leave the race after an ex-girlfriend said he raped her, which he has denied. 

“I think at the current moment in American politics, we’re seeing maybe more than we have at any point since late ’60s, early ’70s, younger Americans indicating a certain level of frustration with the way things are in American politics and American society — and explicitly in a lot of cases, turning blame toward their older fellow citizens,” Brewer said. 

Age hits the CD 2 debate stage 

The topic of age and experience has popped up repeatedly on the debate stage in Maine’s closely watched 2nd District race between LePage and Dunlap. Both are well-established in Maine’s political sphere, with LePage having served two terms as governor and Dunlap having held a wide range of public offices, including as a state lawmaker, Maine secretary of state, and now state auditor. 

LePage and Dunlap were asked during an Oct. 2 debate hosted by TV station WMTW about whether there should be upper age limits for Congress, and if there’s a point where officials are too old to serve. Both agreed that’s a question best left up to voters when they make their decisions at the ballot box. 

“I’m older than Matt Dunlap. I have a lot more wisdom than Matt Dunlap,” LePage said at that debate, eliciting chuckles from his opponent. “I have more experience in the governing of a state. Angus King is older than I am, and he was a governor, and he’s doing a fine job in the U.S. Senate.”

Dunlap said his government work experiences “are far more diverse” than LePage’s.

“I think I’ve developed my own share of knowledge and wisdom, which I will put to use very quickly in Congress,” said Dunlap. 

Later, in a different debate hosted by WABI on Oct. 15, Dunlap pressed LePage about the time that he spends in Florida. LePage’s response mentioned his age. 

“Yes, I’m a snowbird. At my age I don’t like snow anymore. I don’t ski anymore. I’ve got knee problems, so I don’t ski and I don’t play hockey anymore,” LePage said. “So yes, in the winter months, we go to Florida. I have never been in Florida a whole year.”

Senate contest focuses on seniority and time in office, not age

There has been a barrage of attacks and criticism traded in the hotly contested Senate general election race between Collins and Jackson, but those main points of contention have not involved age specifically — at least between the candidates themselves. 

Instead, there has been plenty of debate around seniority and Collins’ role leading the powerful Senate appropriations committee after five terms in office. Collins and her allies have portrayed that seniority as beneficial to Maine because of the federal funding and influence it brings to the state. Jackson and his backers have emphasized Collins’ reversal on a 1996 pledge to only serve two terms if elected to the U.S. Senate. 

This spring, Collins also for the first time disclosed that she has long had a medical condition she described as a “benign essential tremor” in an interview with News Center Maine. Collins has demonstrated notable shakiness in her body and voice for years, and she told the TV station in May that she’d had the condition for decades and takes medication for it.

“I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate,” Collins said. “It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day.” 

Jackson, who is 15 years younger than Collins, has disclosed a health condition of his own. During his recent unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, Jackson shared that he recently received his fifth pacemaker.  

“Early on in my legislative career, I started having heart issues,” the former Maine Senate President said last November when talking about the importance of having access to health insurance. “Tomorrow, I’ll actually have my fifth pacemaker put in.”

Guaranteed to have someone over 70 in CD 1

Pingree is polling well ahead of Russell in the 1st District, and comfortably beat him in 2024 when they faced off in the same matchup. But no matter whether Pingree keeps the seat she’s held since 2009 or Russell provides a shocking upset, a septuagenarian is guaranteed to win the race. 

Both candidates answered questions about age in politics earlier this fall. 

“It’s fair for voters to ask whether any candidate is up to the job, regardless of age,” Pingree said. “Ultimately, candidates should be judged by whether they are doing the work, delivering results, and fighting for the people they represent. I have the energy, experience, and determination to keep doing exactly that for Maine.”

She said she is feeling energized by the work ahead and still has a lot she wants to get done for Maine. 

Russell said that candidates’ physical and mental faculties are a fair part of the conversation, but didn’t think that age should be a deciding factor on its own. 

“If we exclude people who are over 70, we are going to exclude some real problem-solvers in this nation,” Russell said. “That does not need to be the criteria.”

Russell highlighted the elevated age of Maine’s electorate along with the experience that older candidates can bring to the table, including his own service in the U.S. Army. 

“Given the fact that we are representing the oldest population in the United States, I don’t see being over 70 for the entire delegation as that much of a bad thing,” Russell said. 

An old argument is back in style 

Eighty percent of Americans support a maximum age limit for members of Congress, according to a poll conducted by NPR, PBS News and Marist this year. It’s not a new idea.

In 1972, a younger Democratic congressman named William Hathaway challenged one of the all-time giants in Maine’s political realm. The 48-year-old Hathaway unseated legendary Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, who was 74 and in her fourth Senate term at the time. 

Hathaway leaned into their age difference and supported a mandatory retirement age of 70 for members of Congress. 

“You have to be 25 years of age before you can serve in the House, 30 years of age before you’re entitled to serve in the Senate,” Hathaway said during a 1972 debate held by Maine Public Television. “I think an upper limit is warranted also.”

Chase Smith responded to say it was a mistake to focus on a politician’s age rather than the quality of their service. 

“Now I agree that we need new thinking. We certainly need it, and I’m all for younger people coming in,” she said in that 1972 debate. “But I think they should come in and work their way up, and be ready to take the places as the people who have been in for a while retire or go out.” 

A young Angus King, now the oldest person to serve as a U.S. Senator from Maine at 82, was a staffer on the Hathaway campaign.

When asked if King would weigh in on the subject earlier this fall, his office instead pointed to a line he’s used frequently, including on the campaign trail when reelected in 2024. 

“I’m a year younger than Mick Jagger,” King said two years ago, referencing the British rocker known in part for his longevity. 

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.