Rep. Maxine Waters declined to endorse age limits for elected officials during a Capitol Hill exchange Thursday, insisting voters — not arbitrary age thresholds — should decide who remains in office. The 87-year-old California Democrat was approached by TMZ producer Jacob Wasserman following a Working Families press conference and asked whether younger Americans have a point when they argue some leaders are simply too old to remain in power.
Waters made clear she does not believe age alone should determine fitness for office.
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“What do they do? What can you document? What can you give them credit for? What can you criticize them for?” Waters said.
“If you do what it takes to evaluate, then you can decide.”
When Wasserman suggested voters should focus on what politicians actually accomplish rather than their age, Waters agreed.
“Performance and effectiveness,” she said.
The conversation then shifted toward President Donald Trump after Wasserman asked whether an 80-year-old commander in chief might be too old, referencing prior public concerns over former President Joe Biden’s age.
Waters declined to directly engage on Trump’s age and instead launched into criticism of the president’s leadership.
“The president of the United States is destroying our democracy,” Waters said.
“He’s made unkept promises.”
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“He is enriching himself and his family with cryptocurrency.”
Waters also accused Trump of trying to consolidate power.
“He is absolutely committed to empowering himself,” she said.
Despite her criticism, Waters said the public ultimately holds the deciding vote.
“I think some people are having buyer’s remorse, and we see it in the polls,” she said.
“In the final analysis, it is the people who will finally determine that this president is dangerous and divisive.”
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Wasserman then returned directly to the age issue, asking whether there should be an age limit for the presidency.
Waters again rejected the premise. “People should be evaluated and thought of in terms of what they do,” she said.
He pressed further, asking whether even a hypothetical 100-year-old “fighter” should still be allowed to serve in office.
Waters remained consistent. “The people should evaluate who should be in office with their vote, and that’s it,” she said.
The exchange comes as age remains a growing issue in national politics, with questions about the age and health of elected officials frequently surfacing across both parties.
At 87, Waters is among the oldest serving members of Congress, though several lawmakers in both the House and Senate are well into their 70s and 80s, The New York Post reported.
The debate over age limits has intensified in recent years following concerns surrounding Biden’s age during his presidency, as well as broader questions about long-serving lawmakers remaining in office well into advanced age.
Supporters of age restrictions argue that leadership turnover is necessary to reflect younger generations and modern political realities.
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Opponents counter that experience, effectiveness, and voter choice matter more than numerical age, as Waters made clear exactly where she stands in that debate.
Waters, appeared at an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles in February, chanting “ICE out of L.A.” hours before the demonstration descended into violence and police made multiple arrests.
“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 on Friday, Los Angeles police arrested multiple violent agitators after issuing dispersal orders as protests erupted near a federal detention center.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside City Hall Friday afternoon before many marched to the detention facility, where a group of agitators pushed a large construction dumpster and blocked the entrance to the building’s loading dock, according to police.
The LAPD shared video of the unrest on social media and said officers deployed pepper balls and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
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