Facing Younger Primary Challenger, Maxine Waters Rejects Age Limits For Public Office

Rep. Maxine Waters is pushing back against calls for age limits in American politics, arguing that voters should decide who is fit to serve rather than allowing government-imposed age restrictions to determine who remains in office.

The 87-year-old California Democrat made the remarks during a Capitol Hill exchange Thursday after a Working Families press conference, where TMZ producer Jacob Wasserman asked whether younger Americans have a valid concern when they say some elected officials may simply be too old to continue holding power.

Waters rejected the idea that age alone should be used as a political measuring stick.

“What do they do? What can you document? What can you give them credit for? What can you criticize them for? If you do what it takes to evaluate, then you can decide,” Waters said.

When Wasserman suggested that voters should judge elected officials based on accomplishments rather than age, Waters agreed.

“Performance and effectiveness,” she said.

The discussion soon turned to President Donald Trump, after Wasserman asked whether an 80-year-old commander in chief could be considered too old for the job, especially after years of public concern over former President Joe Biden’s age and fitness for office.

Waters avoided directly addressing Trump’s age and instead used the moment to attack the current President.

“The president of the United States is destroying our democracy,” Waters said.

“He’s made unkept promises. He is enriching himself and his family with cryptocurrency. He is absolutely committed to empowering himself,” she said.

Wasserman then brought the question back to age limits, asking whether there should be a maximum age for someone serving as president.

Waters again dismissed the premise.

“People should be evaluated and thought of in terms of what they do,” she said.

When pressed on whether even a hypothetical 100-year-old “fighter” should be allowed to remain in office, Waters stood firm that the decision belongs with voters.

“The people should evaluate who should be in office with their vote, and that’s it,” she said.

The comments come as Waters, one of the oldest members of Congress, faces a serious Democratic primary challenge from a younger progressive opponent in California.

Waters has represented South Los Angeles in Congress for 35 years, but she is now fighting to hold her seat ahead of the June Democratic primary.

Her challenger, 53-year-old Myla Rahman, is a nonprofit executive with political experience who argues that the district is ready for a new generation of leadership.

“She’s a force… Since I was 6 years old, she’s been in office, but as I do my work in the community, walk through the districts, talk to people, people want new leadership,” Rahman said.

Rahman also pointed to the generational gap between Waters and the voters she represents.

“The average age in the district is 36 years old. That’s a big difference… When you talk about relatability, when you talk about going to the store, the price of affordability – I’m a renter,” Rahman said.

“Being able to afford housing. Raising my children in the district and school there, talking to their friends. And elections are about the future. They’re not really about the past,” Rahman added.

Waters has defended her long tenure by arguing that experience, relationships, and commitment to the work should matter more than age.

“The Democratic Party is working as it normally does,” Waters said. “They will choose their candidates based on the relationships that they have, the work that they have done, the interests that they have shown – not about age.”

Still, Waters’ record and public activism remain under scrutiny, particularly as Democrats face growing frustration over crime, affordability, immigration, and public disorder in deep-blue cities.

In February, Waters appeared at an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles, where she chanted “ICE out of L.A.” just hours before the demonstration descended into unrest and multiple arrests were made.

“What I see here at the detention center are people exercising their constitutional rights,” Waters said while standing in front of officers wearing riot gear, Fox News reported. “And, of course, they’re now trying to tear gas everybody. It’s in the air, but people are not moving.”

Later that Friday, Los Angeles police arrested multiple violent agitators after issuing dispersal orders near a federal detention center.

Thousands of protesters had gathered outside City Hall before many marched toward the detention facility. According to police, a group of agitators pushed a large construction dumpster and blocked the entrance to the building’s loading dock.

The LAPD later shared video of the unrest on social media and said officers used pepper balls and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

For conservatives, the political fight surrounding Waters highlights a broader question facing the Democratic Party: whether entrenched incumbents who have held power for decades can still claim to represent working families struggling with rising costs, unsafe streets, and an immigration crisis many Democrats refuse to confront honestly.

Waters says voters should decide based on performance. Her younger challenger appears ready to argue that performance is exactly the problem.