A Democratic congresswoman who is retiring at the age of 68 has told her elders in the party hierarchy to step down earlier.
Annie Kuster, who has represented New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district since 2013, also detailed a concerning trip on Air Force One last year with Joe Biden.
Her comments came as it emerged that an 81-year-old Republican congresswoman from Texas, Kay Granger, has been in a care home for the last six months, collecting her $174,000 salary while not attending votes in Congress.
That ignited an outcry over elderly politicians holding onto power and has sparked accusations that the U.S. is being run by a ‘gerontocracy’.
Kuster told the Boston Globe: “I’m trying to set a better example. I think there are colleagues – and some of whom are still very successful and very productive – but others who just stay forever.’
She added: ‘I’ve always said I wasn’t going to stay forever. Congress, by being so focused on seniority, tends to cater to a much older population.’
The congresswoman was with Biden on Air Force One for an hour in March.
‘Just in my heart, (I) reached the conclusion that this would be a very challenging campaign for him, and to put himself out there for another four-year term was was going to be a struggle,’ she told the Boston Globe.
She said Biden spoke “very softly” and his aging was apparent.
The congresswoman said she did not know if there was an effort by people around Biden to conceal the effects of that aging, but his team ‘may have’ done so.
She told the Globe: ‘It was hard for me at that time, like, what can one person do? You know, I did talk with people about [it] and talked with the campaign, it’s just hard to know looking back on it.’
Kuster announced her own retirement later that same month.
The following month she was on a ‘painful’ Zoom call with Biden during which moderate Democrats questioned his ability, the Globe reported.
‘I haven’t had these kind of conversations since I talked to my own parents about, you know, their aging and their limitations,’ she told the newspaper.
The congresswoman’s comments came amid growing accusations that Biden’s team covered up for him.
According to a recent bombshell report by the Wall Street Journal the White House hired a vocal coach, put other officials into roles usually occupied by the president, scrapped meetings on Biden’s ‘bad days’, and kept him at arm’s length from his own Cabinet members.
The administration also trashed those who dared to claim Biden’s abilities had deteriorated since he was Barack Obama’s vice president.
A well-connected Democratic strategist confirmed to DailyMail.com that influence over Biden during this time had been ‘concentrated by people who are not external facing,’ including his close advisors Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti, and Mike Donilon.
Meanwhile, in Congress, Democrats this month overlooked 35-year-old representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the party’s top role on the powerful House oversight committee.
They picked 74-year-old congressman Gerry Connolly instead.
He was backed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who is 84.
Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary, on Thursday joined the chorus calling for a new generation.
She said: ‘While I have deep, deep respect for Speaker Pelosi and nothing against Congressman Connolly at all, this felt like an obvious chance to apply some of the lessons we should have learned from the November election.”
“Instead, Democrats passed over one of the youngest, most media-savvy members of Congress for a key public leadership role.”
Democrat congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who is retiring from Congress aged 55, said: ‘It is time to elevate the best and brightest. We have literally kept them from ascending to leadership positions, which means they go elsewhere.’