[Trending News] Vance becomes first millennial in White House. Where is Gen X?

Gen Z likes to poke fun at Baby Boomers. Millennials have been stereotyped since, well, the turn of the century. And people born on the cusp of one generation or the other like to debate their affiliation.

Generational divides also have a place in Washington, where most recently Vice President JD Vance became the first-ever millennial to hold the office.

At 40 years old, his ascent from a junior senator to first in line for the presidency is history making. It’s also left his Gen X elders waiting in the wings.

Generation X, roughly defined as those born between 1965 and 1980, have never seen a commander-in-chief come from their ranks.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, 60, has been referred to as an honorary member of the forgotten middle child generation, having been born in October 1964. Had she won in 2024, Harris would’ve been not only the first woman and woman of color elected president but also likely considered a generational first.

Instead, her 78-year-old baby boomer opponent, Donald Trump, is back in the Oval Office. Age was a hot topic in this most recent presidential election, especially after former President Joe Biden, 82, ended his reelection bid due to escalated concerns about his acuity.

During Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, he vowed to be a “bridge” to the next generation of Democrats – a promise that some critics in his own party say was broken when he initially decided to run again four years later.

Across the federal government, politicians in their 70s and 80s are sticking around and often squeezing out their younger colleagues, said Presidential historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley.

“They’ve deprived Generation X of having the baton passed.”

Now, Gen X can expect at least four more years before they see one of their own leading the country. (For argument’s sake, former President Barack Obama, born 1961, is not a member of Gen X.)

But with Vance in the No. 2 slot and a popular contender for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination, Democrats, still reeling from Biden’s age-related backlash, may have to match with their own young blood.

Brinkley predicted as much, saying the left could end up having to skip their prominent Gen X-ers on the national stage: “They’ve got to leapfrog to millennials.”

‘A blank generation’

No generation is a monolith, but Americans born within a decade or two of each other tend to share common formative experiences and sometimes similar worldviews.

The oldest millennials were born under Reagan and grew up under Clinton; their generation witnessed the 9/11 attacks and saw social media use take off. They watched “Friends” before it was on Netflix and wore questionably low-cut jeans.

Many of their parents are members of the baby boomer generation, who lived through the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Era. The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder sang from their record players and words like “groovy” rolled off their tongues.

Sandwiched between these groups, Gen X-ers “got lost in the shuffle,” Brinkley said.

“Gen X had a feeling of … like a blank generation,” he said. “They weren’t sure what they were supposed to do. They were caught in the middle of 60’s radicalism and romanticism, and modern day.”

Today’s 44 to 60-year-olds aren’t the first generation to be late to the White House game.

Biden was the first and only member of the aptly named silent generation, born between 1928 and 1945, to earn the title of president – and he did so two years before his 80^th birthday.

Government has been slow to change hands

Outside the White House, among party leadership, there has been some changing of the guard.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., is the third member of Gen X to hold the gavel, following fellow Republicans and former Speakers Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Kevin McCarthy of California. All three men are currently in their fifties.

House Democrats also passed the baton from Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 84, who continues to represent California’s 11^th Congressional District but stepped back from leadership in 2022, to 54-year-old Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

On the Senate side, Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell did make way for South Dakota’s John Thune to become the next Republican Majority Leader. But the 82 to 64-year-old transition means only Americans older than floppy disks have had a turn helming the upper chamber.

According to Pew Research Center, the median age of the Senate, as of last month, was 64.7 years − about as old as the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” That’s around a quarter century older than the median U.S. population age, which was 38.9 in 2022. In the House, the median age is also above average at 57.5 years in January − as old as the introduction of McDonald’s Big Mac.

One factor to keep in mind here: The Constitution has age requirements for holding office. House members must be 25 or older, and senators must be 30 or older. The minimum age for presidents is 35.

But Congress has also been getting older, Brinkley said, as life expectancies get longer, and the typical retirement age has pushed past 65.

“There is a sense that people’s third act in life when they get older can be very vibrant,” he said. “People will stay in jobs until 75 or 85.”

Vance notches first millennial win

While Gen X continues to wait for their turn, millennials are jumping the line.

For the first time in history, we have a vice president who has never known life without the Internet, “Saturday Night Live,” or Post-it Notes. He may or may not have jammed out to Death Cab for Cutie in high school or have watched “Titanic” for the first time in theaters.

Vance is, for all intents and purposes, a millennial’s millennial.

And fellow young Republicans are celebrating having one of their own join the executive branch for the first time.

“I think it’s great news for our generation,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., told USA TODAY. “It’s about time for a new generation of leaders. I’m excited about it.”

Sheehy, 39, is the second-youngest member of the upper chamber and one of four senators younger than 45.

Sen. Josh Hawley, 45, also applauded the up-and-coming generation of GOP leaders and noted Trump’s own outreach and appeal to a younger demographic in the 2024 election.

Trump went from winning the support of 37% of voters between 18 and 29 years old in 2016, to 47% of that age group in 2024. Young men in that age range heavily favored Trump, 56% to 42%.

But some say they couldn’t care less about age.

“Substance is more important,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said when asked about the significance of the first millennial vice president and the prospect of a Gen X commander-in-chief.

“Personally, I like experience,” Crenshaw, five months Vance’s senior, continued. “I don’t put any value on someone with a young perspective just because they’re young.”

‘Kind of inevitable’

Only someone with a crystal ball could say whether America will ever have a Gen X president. But congressional quinquagenarians say they’re still confident about the possibility.

“It’s kind of inevitable, right?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., 50, said.

It’s one of the rare issues that enjoys bipartisan agreement.

“Of course,” Maryland’s Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, 53, said in response to whether there would ever be someone from her generation in the oval office.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., was equally affirmative and laughed when asked the same question.

So, his generation hasn’t been leapfrogged?

“No,” Warnock, 55, said.