Rising Stars: Young Democrats Push for a Fresh Wave in Congress

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In 1978, Bob Matsui was elected to Congress from California, a milestone that would precede the birth of Mai Vang by seven years. When Matsui passed away in 2005, his legacy continued with his widow, Doris Matsui, stepping into his congressional shoes. Around this time, Vang was busy with her studies in biology and sociology, unaware of the political role she would eventually play.

Fast forward to today, and Mai Vang, a Sacramento City Council member at 40, is embarking on a significant political journey. She is challenging 81-year-old Doris Matsui in what is considered the first formidable contest Matsui has encountered in her two-decade tenure representing the area. Vang is part of a wave of young Democrats across the nation who are striving to replace some of their party’s long-serving stalwarts in Washington. They are driven by a belief that these older politicians are not adequately opposing former President Donald Trump.

“I’m not waiting for permission,” Vang declared, emphasizing the urgency of her mission. “Our communities are under attack, and we need leaders who truly understand the daily struggles of working families. I believe I am that leader for this moment.”

During Trump’s presidency, grassroots Democrats concentrated their discontent on the Republican leader. However, as President Joe Biden, at 81, hesitates to step aside for the 2024 election, potentially paving the way for Trump’s return, many within the party are scrutinizing their own veteran leaders as part of the issue.

Recently, Vang gathered with supporters at a home near downtown Sacramento. About two dozen attendees, mostly young professionals, shared drinks and applauded as she passionately spoke about her commitment to dismantling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, signaling the fresh energy she hopes to bring to Washington.

“No more wash, rinse and repeat,” said Abbie Morrissey, who works at the University of California, Davis, and attended Vang’s event. “We need to find young, engaged, energetic people that understand their young, engaged and energetic populations.”

Matsui, who was born in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, said she’s fought Trump’s strict immigration policies and delivered billions of dollars for her district.

“Experience isn’t about clinging to power,” she said in a statement. “It’s about being effective when the stakes are highest for our families.”

Matsui ended 2025 with a financial advantage, reporting $785,000 in the bank, compared with $200,000 for Vang.

Civil rights leader faces an economic populist

Evan Turnage had barely learned to walk when Rep. Bennie Thompson, a civil rights leader, was first elected to Congress from Mississippi.

Now Thompson, 78, is one of the most senior Black lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and Turnage, 33, is challenging him in the state’s Democratic primary. Turnage, who is also Black, is an antitrust lawyer who previously worked for top Senate Democrats in Washington, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Channeling Warren’s economic populism, Turnage said Mississippi needs a representative who will fight back against what he sees as predatory corporations.

“We have got to finally secure civil rights and economic rights for the people of this state,” Turnage said. “Mr. Thompson has done a good job with being a part of the Civil Rights Movement, but what about the economic rights?”

Winning those battles requires more than accumulating seniority on Capitol Hill, he said, and the modern era demands leaders who understand how social media and artificial intelligence are transforming life.

“Just steadily doing the committee work with your head down behind the scenes is not how we’re gonna get the transformational change that we need here in this district,” Turnage said.

Still, Turnage has struggled to raise significant money, which could make it hard for him to get his message out and overcome Thompson’s incumbency advantage. He ended the year with just $54,000, while Thompson had $1.7 million in his campaign account.

Thompson formerly chaired the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump’s supporters. In responding to the launch of Turnage’s campaign last month, Thompson said he is confident his record will speak for itself.

“Elections were created to give people the ability to make a choice,” he said. “I trust the voters of the district.”

A congressman is challenged by a former intern

Some level of generational change is already coming in the next Congress, no matter what. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, of California, and her longtime deputy, Maryland’s Steny Hoyer, 86, are retiring from Congress when their current terms end. So are Reps. Jerry Nadler, 78, of New York, and Jan Schakowsky, 81, of Illinois. All had served for decades and decided to retire rather than face primary challengers.

But others want to stay. Rep. Steve Cohen, 76, of Tennessee, is running for an 11th term. He’s up against Justin Pearson, 31, who was a sixth grader promising better school lunches as president of the student government when Cohen was first elected to Congress. He later interned for Cohen.

Pearson was one of two Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee Legislature by Republicans after leading a gun control protest inside the state Capitol building. He was quickly reinstated by local officials and later reelected.

“With all due respect to Steve, he’s been in office for 43 years, and he has done the best that he can possibly do, and the status quo is still what it is,” Pearson said, tallying up Cohen’s time in the state legislature and in Congress.

Democrats have held their party back by hanging around too long, he said, citing Biden, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The aging justice didn’t resign while Barack Obama was president and died at age 87 during Trump’s first term, allowing the Republican to replace her with a conservative.

“Time and time again, we are seeing people who are staying in positions of power who are good people but who are no longer doing it for the benefit of their constituencies but for themselves,” Pearson said. “And that’s wrong. And that’s not fair to us or fair to our community.”

A polio survivor, Cohen has won nearly every election with more than 70% of the vote. He’s already survived a significant challenge when Willie Herenton, Memphis’ first Black mayor, ran against him in the Democratic primary in 2010. At the end of 2025, Cohen had $1.8 million on hand, while Pearson trailed with $350,000.

Cohen complimented Pearson’s potential but said age shouldn’t be the criterion for judging a lawmaker. He said Pelosi, Hoyer and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina have done some of their best work after turning 70, as did the late Reps. John Lewis of Georgia and Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

He also said he’s never been status quo, saying he was known as the “liberal lion” when he was a state senator.

“I’ve always been an iconoclast,” Cohen said in an interview.

Former mayor takes on a House veteran

In Connecticut, several Democrats in their 30s and 40s are challenging 77-year-old Rep. John Larson for the party’s endorsement at Connecticut’s Democratic state convention in May.

Larson, a fixture in state politics, has represented the Hartford and central Connecticut-based 1st Congressional District since 1999. Concerns about his health and age intensified last year after he abruptly stopped speaking during a speech on the House floor. His office later said the 13-term lawmaker had suffered a complex partial seizure.

Larson has said medication helps control the condition and he is fit to seek a 14th term. Still, he is facing serious Democratic opposition for the first time in his congressional career.

Former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 46, is widely viewed as the leading challenger, buoyed by his name recognition and fundraising. A Rhodes scholar, lawyer and U.S. Navy Reserve officer, Bronin was a sophomore at Yale when Larson was first elected to Congress. He ended 2025 with $1.5 million in the bank, compared with Larson’s $1 million.

Bronin has said the Democratic Party’s reluctance to embrace generational change, highlighted by Biden’s aborted reelection campaign, played a major role in his decision to challenge Larson, arguing that long-tenured leadership has weakened the party at a critical moment.

“I’m running because I think our country is in crisis and the Democratic Party has been too weak and too cautious to meet this moment,” Bronin said. “Part of meeting this moment means getting new members of Congress, new Democratic leaders who have the energy and courage and clarity of mission that this moment demands.”

When he recently visited a food hall in Hartford, a couple closer in age to Larson than Bronin said they still think it’s time to replace the veteran lawmaker.

“He’s done a good job, and we appreciate everything he’s done, but it’s time for new blood, for new ideas,” said Dan Schnaidt, 73, a Democrat who lives in the district.

Schnaidt’s wife, Cynthia Tucker, 73, said Larson has been a great member of Congress but it’s time for a change.

“Go out on a high note, and let somebody new come in,” she said.

Larson is leaning on his progressive credentials and touting his experience as a virtue.

“Another Wall Street-funded corporate lawyer using this office as a stepping stone is not the kind of change this district needs,” Larson’s campaign manager, Gerry Gerratana, said in a statement. “It deserves a progressive champion like John Larson who grew up in the district, understands the challenges people face because he’s seen them firsthand, and has a proven record of taking on Trump.”

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Bates reported from Jackson, Miss., Haigh from Hartford, Conn., and Mattise from Nashville, Tenn. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.