Rep. Jerry Nadler draws a 26-year-old primary challenger
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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) speaks at a news conference in Lower Manhattan on June 18, 2025. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday became the latest septuagenarian House Democrat facing a primary challenge after 26-year-old Liam Elkind launched a bid for his seat.
Why it matters: Elkind is drawing on concerns that Nadler, the 78-year-old former Judiciary Committee chair and dean of the New York congressional delegation, is too old to effectively fight President Trump.
- Nadler was effectively pushed out as Judiciary Committee ranking member last year amid a challenge from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
- Nadler told Axios in May that he is nevertheless running for reelection: "I want to continue serving ... there's still a lot of things I want to do that have to be done."
Driving the news: Elkind seized on Democrats' old age issue and lawmakers' unpopularity with their own grassroots base in an ad announcing his bid, casting Nadler as a central figure in those dynamics.
- "The same people are using the same old tactics, but they're losing," he says in the ad. "Our leaders need to answer the call now, and they aren't."
- In the ad, Elkind asks Nadler to retire: "I appreciate his 50 years in office. I grew up voting for him. But we need new leaders to meet this moment."
- Elkind, a graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar, leads Invisible Hands Deliver, a non-profit founded during the pandemic to deliver groceries and medicine to the sick and elderly.
The other side: "Last time I checked Congressman Nadler was just re-elected last November by 80% of the vote and 3 years ago he soundly defeated another 30-year incumbent in a contested primary," Nadler spokesperson Robert Gottheim told Axios in a statement.
- Gottheim added: "But this is the great thing about America, it's a democracy (hopefully still with Donald Trump in the White House) and anybody can run."
- "And he'll put his over 30-year record of accomplishments against anyone including someone who appears to have no record of accomplishment to speak of."
Zoom out: Nadler is one of more than a dozen House Democrats who are 70 or older and facing a primary challenge from a younger opponent.
- More than half of the 30 House Democrats over 75 have told Axios they plan to run for reelection — though one of them, Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), has since announced plans to retire.
- "Some older members are still effective, some older members aren't," Nadler told Axios in May.
- "As long as you're effective, that's fine. And if someone thinks you're not effective, see if they can persuade the electorate in your district."
