Mirror, mirror on the wall, which state’s congressional delegation is youngest of them all?
for some reason decided to take a look at average ages of each state’s congressional delegations — and lo and behold, Kansas’ group came in as the nation’s youngest.
Kansas averages 46 years, thanks in large part to fresh-face Congressman Kevin Yoder’s age 38.
Missouri? It has an average age of 54 years for its nine reps.
Kansas’ designation comes with a slight caveat. In states with just a single representative — and there are a few — South Dakota’s Kristi Noam is the youngest. She’s just 42.
But Kansas gets the crown if we consider multi-representative states.
Got that?
Using that metric, the title of oldest delegation goes to West Virginia, which averages 64 years.
“One thing that stands out in the map above is the swath of young delegations from states in the middle of the country,” the blog noted. “We normally associate youthful dynamism with coastal metropolitan areas, but as far as the House is concerned that energy seems to be coming from the heartland.”
That, of course, is where some of the most conservative members of Congress reside. And Yoder fills that bill nicely.
On the Senate side, the average of Kansas’ delegation is a robust 68 years, thanks to Pat Roberts’ age 77.
Missouri is at a more modest 62 years.
The designation for the oldest delegation in the nation goes to California where Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer average 76.5 years.
New Jersey's Cory Booker and Robert Menendez are the youngest at 52 years.
This story was originally published April 2, 2014 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Mirror, mirror on the wall, which state’s congressional delegation is youngest of them all?."