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The older generation does not want to pass the baton. You dont have to die in your seat. Pass the baton on, said Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a 37-year-old Democrat who lives in Hastings district.

I want to make sure that Im not stepping into ageism, but we have a bench problem, he said. We have so many good young elected officials, but theyre on the bench.

DeSantis scheduling move led to howls of protest in the majority-Black district because its residents will go without elected representation for so long. But privately theres a growing realization among Florida Democrats that Hastings refusal to leave office helped enable the outcome.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the end of a legislative session at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla on April 30, 2021. | AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File

Both parties have their share of elderly members (Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley is considering running again next year for a term that would end when he is 93). But Democrats have been grappling with a noticeable generational divide within their ranks for some time President Joe Biden and top Democratic congressional leaders are all well over 70. Ten of the 12 House members over the age of 80 are Democrats.

The issue has taken on an increased urgency given the partys tenuous hold on Congress. The loss of just one Democrat would tip the balance of power in the Senate, which has heightened scrutiny of its oldest member, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who has faced recent questions about her fitness for office. She turned 88 on Tuesday. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy now 81 and running for reelection to his ninth term had a brief hospital scare in January that alarmed activists.

It was one of the few wake-up calls: Holy s---, we are one stroke or car wreck or Me Too scandal from not having a Senate majority, said Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy for the liberal think tank Data for Progress. It is the thinnest majority you can have.

Democrats have a slightly larger margin in the House, but that advantage has been whittled down in recent months by Hastings death and other departures.

Thats led to mounting frustration with the old guard, as well as a feeling of dread that the party is just a heartbeat away from losing control of at least one chamber of Congress.

Progressive activists like NoiseCat are increasingly concerned that issues important to Generation Z and millennial voters such as climate change, voting rights and criminal justice reform are stalled in the hidebound Senate, where the lack of action could depress turnout next year and flip control of one or both chambers of Congress.

Theres a generation of young progressives energized by politics, and a big question in front of the Democratic Party in terms of its ability to channel that energy is whether or not they can deliver on issues that matter to young people, NoiseCat said.

Worries about the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court where the September death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, enabled President Donald Trump to replace her with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, 49 are also coloring the debate.

Justice Stephen Breyer, 82 and one of the high courts three liberal justices, faces an organized effort to pressure him to retire and make way for a replacement.

Brian Fallon, a top Democratic operative and executive director of the advocacy group Demand Justice, said Breyers arguments for staying on the court resemble those made by Ginsburg and older politicians like Leahy, who point out that theyre still doing a good job and remain the best choices for their positions.

The big divide in the Democratic Party is as much ideological as it is generational, Fallon said, adding that its not just about policy.

It applies to how politics is conducted, beyond taxes and crime and the war on drugs, he said. Theres no more patience for the idea that the Republicans are going to negotiate in good faith.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 31-year-old progressive who won her New York seat in 2018 by defeating a longtime Democratic incumbent, reminded her Twitter followers earlier this month that the 2009 death of 77-year-old Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy stymied President Barack Obamas agenda.

During the Obama admin, folks thought wed have a 60 Dem majority for a while. It lasted 4 months, she tweeted. Dems are burning precious time & impact negotiating w/GOP who wont even vote for a Jan 6 commission. [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnells plan is to run out the clock. Its a hustle. We need to move now.

Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist and spokesperson for the group Justice Democrats, said he wants the 78-year-old president, 70-year-old Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, 70, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 81, to realize that time is ticking for everyone.

I dont inherently have a problem with a politicians age, Shahid said. The issue is that the Democratic Partys narrow control of the federal government could be upended by illness or death at any moment. That fact should be giving Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi much more urgency to get a broad agenda through Congress as quickly as possible.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, seen here in February 2021, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. | Greg Nash/Pool via AP

That would require eliminating the filibuster, though, and senators like Feinstein are cool to the idea. In 2018, then-state Sen. Kevin de Len, 54, unsuccessfully challenged her from the left in California, saying it was time for a change. But the powerful senator still managed to hold on to win a fifth term.

There is always going to be an expiration date on the value of seniority, de Len, now a Los Angeles City Council member, told POLITICO. Instead of holding power hostage to our very last days, lets use every ounce of it to help the next generation cut a path to strong leadership both within our party, and in the halls of power.

In Florida, Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 42, had the same idea when she unsuccessfully challenged Hastings in 2018 and 2020.

Cherfilus-McCormick said she respected Hastings, a beloved figure in the Black community who was first elected to Congress in 1992. But she challenged him because she said he wasnt delivering for the district and we cant sacrifice the community based on the fact that someones an icon.

With Hastings death, Cherfilus-McCormick is now running in what promises to be a crowded primary to succeed him a stark contrast to her two previous solo bids against Hastings.

Theyre jumping in because they believe its an opportunity of a lifetime, because the assumption is that you stay there until you pass. Thats something we have to deal with and confront head on, she said. What we have to deal with as a party is taking succession-planning seriously.

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You dont have to die in your seat: Democrats stress over aging members - POLITICO

June 25, 2021 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Office of the Governor Press Secretary Renae Eze today issued a statement regarding a lawsuit filed by Texas Democrat state representatives and others to halt the execution of the Governor's veto of Article X:

The governors veto power is granted by the Texas Constitution, and the Texas Supreme Court has recognized that the Governor has power to disapprove any bill.Also, the Texas Court of Criminal Appealshas made clear that the Constitution does not 'impose any restriction on the[governors] veto power.More to the point,that court alsoruled that the governors power to exercise a veto may not be circumscribed by the Legislature [or] by the courts. This is not the first time, and undoubtedly will not be the last time, that a governor vetoes funding for government positions and salaries. Any limitation on that authority directly contradicts the Constitution and decades of vetoes by governors.

The Democrats claims about the governors veto cancelling the legislative branch are misleading and misguided. The Constitution protects the legislative branch, and as the Democrats well know, their positions, their powers and their salaries are protected by the Constitution. They can continue to legislate despite the veto.

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Office Of The Governor Issues Statement On Democrats' Lawsuit To Overturn Article X Veto - Office of the Texas Governor

But Democrats see a changed landscape. The ProPublica report added fodder. But even before the pandemic recession, corporate tax receipts had plunged 40 percent after the Trump tax cuts. Though the 2017 tax law ostensibly lowered the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, the effective business rate has fallen to 8 percent, said Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.

Theres been a big change in voter attitudes on taxes, Mr. Wyden said. In the last 10 years, Republicans always want to talk about taxes, nail those Democrats on taxes, tax-and-spend and all the rest. Now, the American people are sympathetic with our point, which is that everybody ought to pay their fair share.

Democrats are divided about how far to go. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, pressed Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen last week on Ms. Warrens proposed wealth tax, which would impose a 2 percent surtax on the value of assets owned by people worth more than $50 million and raise at least $3 trillion.

This is about choices, she told a reluctant Ms. Yellen. We can fund universal child care, or we can hand Jeff Bezos enough tax savings to build a superyacht.

Other Democrats, even liberals, are not so sure.

The whole term of a wealth tax scares an awful lot of people who are hoping to achieve some wealth, Mr. Doggett said. We dont want to discourage economic success. We just want to level the playing field.

Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, is stuck in the middle. As a pro-business Democrat, he was tapped by Mr. Wyden to hash out a corporate tax package with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a pro-labor Democrat. But he is also a member of the group negotiating the bipartisan infrastructure deal.

He said he was confident there would be unanimous support among Democrats to include the international tax framework in a reconciliation bill that followed a narrower infrastructure compromise, because its just so darned complicated.

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Infrastructure Bill Talks Collide With Democrats Goal to Tax the Rich - The New York Times

Her selection was foreshadowed weeks ago, after the website IrishCentral reported she was set to soon be revealed as Bidens choice, fueling speculation about her future. At the time, two people with knowledge of the process told the Globe that the five-term lawmaker from Easton was being vetted by the Biden administration.

I am deeply honored to be nominated by President Biden for ambassador to Ireland, especially given the Presidents and my own Irish roots, Cronin said in a statement released by the White House Wednesday. If confirmed, I look forward to serving as ambassador and working with our partners in Ireland on both the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.

Her selection could remix House Speaker Ronald Marianos relatively new leadership team. As the Houses majority leader, Cronin was the first woman to be named the chambers number two Democrat, and she has been viewed in the State House as a potential successor to Mariano.

Cronin previously chaired the Legislatures judiciary committee, where she helped usher a sweeping criminal justice overhaul into law in 2018, and last year she was among the Houses chief negotiators on a high-profile police accountability bill.

Elected to the House in 2012, Cronin is also a lawyer and served as an arbitrator in a landmark Catholic clergy sexual-abuse settlement.

Cronin has been among a few people viewed as potential nominees for the post in Ireland, including former US senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Anne Finucane of Bank of America. If confirmed, she would live at an estate in Dublins Phoenix Park, surrounded by 62 acres of lawn and gardens. The property was once described by The New York Times as one of Dublins most spectacular houses.

She is among a second slate of ambassador nominees announced by the Biden administration, which last week unveiled picks for a series of sensitive posts in Mexico and Israel and at NATO.

Cronin is set to join a long list of former Massachusetts elected officials nominated to be diplomats.

Former governor Paul Cellucci left the State House to serve as President George W. Bushs ambassador to Canada, just a few years after his predecessor, former governor Bill Weld, resigned after he was nominated by President Clinton to be ambassador to Mexico. (Weld ultimately withdrew after he was blocked from having a hearing by conservative Republicans in the US Senate.)

Former US senator Scott Brown served as ambassador to New Zealand in the Trump administration; former Boston mayor Ray Flynn was ambassador to the Holy See under Clinton; and former congressman and onetime gubernatorial candidate Brian Donnelly was named ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, also under Clinton.

Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated Cronins role in a landmark Catholic clergy sexual abuse settlement. She was an arbitrator. The Globe regrets the error.

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout.

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Claire Cronin, Mass. Houses number two Democrat, will be nominated as ambassador to Ireland - The Boston Globe

It is often hard to try to derive a national message from a single byelection. The effect on party morale usually dwarfs that felt on government policy. The election of Liberal Democrat Sarah Green as the MP for Chesham and Amersham, a commuter-belt seat north-west of London, stuns on both counts. The result will make Conservative MPs in relatively liberal and educated constituencies very jumpy. But it will also slow the progress of Boris Johnsons planning reforms. Voters in bucolic Buckinghamshire plainly feared that these would make it easier for developers to concrete over the countryside.

What the result shows is that the Liberal Democrat cause is not a hopeless one. With just 11 parliamentarians and languishing at 7% in national polls, Sir Ed Davey appeared to be taking his depleted ranks and marching them towards the sound of gunfire. Chesham and Amersham has been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1974. Yet Ms Green overturned a 16,000-strong Tory majority to take the seat by just over 8,000 votes, a swing of 25%, and upset the odds. The energy of the Tories vaccine bounce seems dissipated. Clearly the death of Liberal England has been prematurely foretold.

But is this a successful revival or a false dawn? In 2016 a swing of 22% saw Londons Richmond Park won by the Lib Dems. Three years later the party won the Brecon and Radnorshire byelection in Wales with a swing of 14%. What was telling was that on both occasions, the Lib Dems benefited from electoral pacts that consolidated a part of the remain vote. These divisions have not been erased just because Britain has left the European Union. Chesham and Amersham voted remain, and it would appear that substantial numbers of pro-EU Labour supporters voted Lib Dem.

The Compass thinktank has identified two clear battlegrounds in England: one between Labour and the Conservatives, another between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. There are few seats where Labour and the Lib Dems square off. It makes sense to join hands to defeat a common enemy. This thought also dovetails with a creeping political realignment in British politics.

The trend is for older, school-leaver Brexit supporters in the north switching to the Conservatives while the ruling party is losing ground among the more middle-class suburban graduates who leaned towards remain. Mr Johnsons divisive nationalism and levelling up rhetoric risks trading red wall gains, such as in Hartlepool last month, for blue wall losses. The new Tory coalition can be divided in other ways: the HS2 high-speed railway is widely welcomed in the north and the Midlands where it ends, but less so in the leafy southern constituencies, such as Chesham and Amersham, that it runs through.

To keep the momentum going will require more than the politics of protest. Sir Ed must see the possibility of a major political restructuring and shape it. He should make a virtue of positions that decentralise power, free the individual citizen and promote quality in public services. He needs policies that are not only popular but also clearly associated in the minds of voters with the Lib Dems. Being a responsible partner to the EU, rather than a troublesome neighbour, would be a good start. Liberalism is its own creed, and its adherents ought to make the case that it remains the one most capable of meeting the challenges ahead.

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The Guardian view on the Liberal Democrats: seeing and shaping politics - The Guardian