San Francisco Democrats want to put an age limit on politicians

Call it the Biden Rule. Or the Feinstein Edict. Or perhaps the Ginsburg Mandate.

Whoever you choose as its mascot, the point remains the same: San Francisco Democrats don’t want old people staying in office too long. (Except, perhaps, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, but more on that later.) 

The city’s Democratic County Central Committee will consider a resolution at a meeting Wednesday calling for politicians and other elected officials in California to voluntarily retire when they reach a certain age. What age specifically? It’s not clear.

But the fallout from former President Joe Biden remaining on the presidential ticket long enough to show he’d lost a step (or three) — thereby putting Democrats in a bind as they cobbled together a Kamala Harris campaign that failed to stop Donald Trump from reclaiming the White House — is still weighing heavily on the party.

The proposal is part of a package of ideas the local party is putting forward in the hopes of introducing them at the state Democratic convention at the end of May. In addition to the age cap idea, other proposals will touch on housing, public safety, public education, and anti-corruption efforts.

“Our No. 1 goal is really to start the conversation on how Democrats reorient themselves to be successful in the midterms and in 2028,” said Nancy Tung, chair of the local Democratic Party.

Eric Kingsbury, a member of the local Democratic County Central Committee who previously managed ex-Mayor London Breed’s campaign, authored the age limit resolution. He compares the need for an age cap on politicians to other professions with mandatory retirement ages or “age-based fitness assessments,” such as commercial airline‬‭ pilots, state judges, and public safety officers.

“More than 30 U.S.‬ states have implemented age limits for judges to balance institutional knowledge with public accountability,” an initial draft of his resolution states.

Other recent political figures who arguably stayed in office longer than they should have included the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Feinstein, who was the first woman mayor of San Francisco, suffered from numerous health issues in her final years in office. Ginsburg, for her part, refused to step down from the bench despite multiple cancer diagnoses, giving Trump control of a pivotal judicial appointment when she died. That decision set the stage for Roe v. Wade to be overturned. 

Kingsbury’s resolution calls for “developing a fair and equitable approach to‬‭ potential age limits for serving‬‭ in elected public office, grounded in medical, ethical, and constitutional considerations.” It notes that a policy change “could encourage new leaders in the party to step forward, promote generational equity,‬‭ and increase public confidence in the long-term functionality of our democracy.”

The resolution won’t be binding if approved. But it has the support of Tung, and local officials are hoping the California Democratic‬‭ Party will implement a “voluntary” retirement age that influences how endorsements are awarded to candidates. A state party endorsement in deep-blue California can bring significant financial support to a campaign.

Local officials were careful to note that the resolution should not be seen as encouraging Pelosi to retire. The former House speaker turned 85 in March and has yet to announce whether she’ll seek another term in 2026.

“Nancy Pelosi is exceptional in every regard,” Tung said. “I don’t think this is to take a dig at Nancy. This will help us foster young leaders and continue this idea of leadership renewal within the party.”