Posted by Update: The list below has been updated at this link.
Perhaps this is interesting to you. It’s the offspring of another endeavor that hasn’t otherwise come together. I appreciate the help of a reader who tracked much of this down.
Except where noted, age is figured from birthdates published online.
| DIST. | NAME | PARTY | HOMETOWN | FIRST ELECTED |
AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Jim Preuitt | D | Talladega | 1980 | 74 |
| 16 | J.T. Waggoner | R | Birmingham | 1990 | 72 |
| 9 | Hinton Mitchem | D | Union Grove | 1978 | 71 |
| 1 | Bobby Denton | D | Muscle Shoals | 1978 | 71 |
| 5 | Charles Bishop |
R | Jasper | 2006 | 711 |
| 30 | Wendell Mitchell | D | Luverne | 1982 | 69 |
| 8 | Lowell Barron | D | Fyffe | 1982 | 67 |
| 27 | T.D. Little | D | Auburn | 1990 | 67 |
| 25 | Larry Dixon | R | Montgomery | 1982 | 67 |
| 23 | Hank Sanders |
D | Selma | 1982 | 66 |
| 31 | Jimmy Holley | R | Elba | 1998 | 65 |
| 19 | Priscilla Dunn | D | Bessemer | 2009 | 65 |
| 2 | Tom Butler | D | Madison | 1994 | 65 |
| 10 | Larry Means | D | Attalla | 1998 | 62 |
| 14 | Henry Erwin, Jr. |
R | Montevallo | 2002 | 60 |
| 20 | Linda Coleman | D | Birmingham | 2006 | 592 |
| 18 | Rodger Smitherman | D | Birmingham | 1994 | 56 |
| 6 | Roger Bedford, Jr. | D | Russellville | 1982 | 53 |
| 12 | Del Marsh | R | Anniston | 1998 | 53 |
| 33 | Vivian Davis Figures |
D | Mobile | 1997 | 52 |
| 13 | Kim Benefield | D | Woodland | 2006 | 522 |
| 35 | Ben Brooks | R | Mobile | 2006 | 51 |
| 21 | Phil Poole | D | Moundville | 1994 | 50 |
| 32 | Trip Pittman | R | Eastern Shore | 2007 | 49 |
| 29 | Harri Anne Smith |
R | Slocumb | 1998 | 47 |
| 15 | Steve French | R | Birmingham | 1998 | 47 |
| 24 | Bobby Singleton | D | Greensboro | 2005 | 471 |
| 3 | Arthur Orr | R | Decatur | 2006 | 45 |
| 34 | Rusty Glover | R | Semmes | 2006 | 43 |
| 7 | Paul Sanford |
R | Huntsville | 2009 | 421 |
| 4 | Zeb Little | D | Cullman | 1998 | 41 |
| 26 | Quinton Ross | D | Montgomery | 2002 | 40 |
| 17 | Scott Beason | R | Gardendale | 2006 | 39 |
| 28 | Myron Penn | D | Union Springs | 2002 | 37 |
| 22 | Marc Keahey | D | Grove Hill | 2009 | 281 |
1Estimated current age based on age in previously published account.
2Estimated minimum age based on published biographical information.
Looking at averages:
Senate Democrats: 56.8
Senate Republicans: 53.6
(Note that this is averaging ages rounded to whole years, not fractions of years.)
If you move Jim Preuitt to the minority caucus, you get…
Senate Dems (minus Preuitt): 55.9
Minority Coalition: 55.0
I was expecting a little more difference between the two.
Related Articles:
I’ll trade: Parker Griffith 6 Aug 1942
Spencer Bachus 28 Dec 1947
Bettye Fine Collins 11 Oct 1934
Jim Carns 21 Sept 1940
For: Jan Cook ??-??-????
Roger Bedford is the median. 5 of the 17 ‘old’ Senators are GOP, 9 of the 17 ‘young’ Senators are GOP.
Keahey really skews the Dems.
Two of the oldest in the top five are retiring. I suspect Mitchem won’t be there either in ’11. Preuitt will probably face a very tough primary from his left where age will be brought up. Waggoner should be primaried but won’t. So the senate will probably be even younger 18 months from now.
Sen 30 Wendel Mitchell’s hometown is Montgomery
I had Figures and Marsh reversed from their proper order, I have fixed that.
Reactionary, thanks for that.
Is it more meaningful/interesting that 9 of the 17 youngest are GOP, or that 4 of the 5 youngest are Dems? That 5 of the 17 oldest are GOP, or that 3 of the 5 oldest (and the oldest 2) are in the minority caucus? I don’t know. Lots of ways to slice it.
Montgomery Insider, you might be surprised how much (or little) Keahey skews the Dems. If he were as old as, say, Paul Sanford, he wouldn’t even move the Dems’ average by one year. If you simply take him out of the equation, the average of the rest of the Dems is 56.3.
Dan T, just for fun I used your comment as a starting point for a little figuring… The average age now is about 55.5. If three of the top five (Denton, Bishop and one other) are replaced by 45 year olds in the next election, then in 18 months the average age will be about 54.6 (figuring everybody else will be 18 months older). If all five are replaced by 45 year olds, the average in 18 months would be about 53.0.
Danny – yep, looking at the stats is probably more interesting than meaningful. Maybe including ‘years in office’ to the data would add more meaning (or just interest).
One could say that since most of the ‘old’ Senators are Dems that at some point those seats won’t be filled by an incumbent (assuming older people die / retire at a higher rate than younger people). Whether or not an open seat favors one party or the other requires more analysis, but the overall picture ‘appears’ to favor the GOP.
Then again, the oldest Senators could keep serving for another 20 years…
But then we’ve got younger Senators like Paul Sanford, who says he doesn’t want to be a career politician – so there’s a good chance he won’t be a 70 year old Senator with 30 years experience.
It would take a little legwork, but a significant data point for the older legislators is which of therm chose to attend a segregated university in the Deep South. Parker Griffith is a probable yes on that. Alabama will never put its shameful past behind it till we start demanding answers to questions like that.
I’d love to see the numbers for the House too. This is interesting stuff. My other long time wish has been to see a spreadsheet with the levels of educational attainment of each of the legislators. How many went to college? How many are college grads? How many have terminal degrees?
Roger Bedford has been in his office for over half of his life. He has been in office 27 years and he is 53 years old. That is amazing.
Phil Poole has Bedford beat. 27 years at 50 years old.