The sudden hospitalization this week of retiring Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., was a reminder of the stresses of politics on an aging Congress. Smith, 67, was hospitalized Wednesday after not feeling well. She was discharged from the hospital the next day but had already announced that she would not run for reelection in 2026. Being a legislator sometimes requires staying up well into the night for key votes and frequently traveling back to one’s congressional district or state. They also must be able to handle some of the sweltering heat of Washington, D.C., in the summer.  Overall, the Congress elected in November 2024 was a little younger than its predecessor. According to the Pew Research Center, the median age for voting members of the House at the start of the 119th Congress was about 57.5 years. That’s a modest decrease in age from the median of the 118th Congress, which was 57.9 years at the Congress’ beginning. The median age of senators is significantly higher than the House’s at 64.7 years, but also a decline from the prior Congress, which had a median age of 65.3 at its start. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t significant outliers among members in both chambers who have crossed over into septuagenarian or even octogenarian status.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., 74, was also briefly hospitalized in July for being dehydrated. North Carolina’s Rep. Virginia Foxx, then 81, fell while walking down a marble staircase during the first day of the new Congress in January. Last December, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., then 84, suffered a hip injury while on a trip to Luxembourg. Pelosi, now 85, has filed to run for reelection in 2026. Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 83, who has announced he will not be seeking reelection, also fell in December, sustaining a sprained wrist in that incident. McConnell also was seen moving about in a wheelchair on the Senate side of the Capitol in March. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who will turn 92 in September, is the oldest member of Congress. The current Congress has also seen three vacancies occur this year as a result of the deaths of septuagenarian incumbent Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., 75; Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., 77; and Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, 70. (Grijalva’s daughter just won a special party primary election to replace her father.) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., 35, had challenged Connolly in December for the role of ranking member, the top Democrat spot, on the important House Oversight Committee, but was defeated.  “Tried my best. Sorry I couldn’t pull it through, everyone—we live to fight another day,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on social media after the vote. Connolly announced in late April that he would not be running for reelection and would soon be “stepping back” as ranking member of the Oversight Committee as a result of the return of his esophageal cancer. The Virginia congressman died on May 21.  Connolly was not the first Democrat member in recent years to have to give up a leadership position due to poor health. Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., 80, dropped out of the race to remain ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee in December. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., 78, declined to seek reelection last year as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and instead endorsed Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., 62, who ultimately succeeded him. This past May, more than half of the House Democrats who were 75 years old or older told Axios that they would seek reelection in 2026. That list included Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., 71, who had to miss votes in 2024 after suffering a stroke, and Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., 76, who suffered a complex partial seizure during a speech on the House floor in February. The post Senator’s Hospitalization Casts Spotlight on Aging Congress appeared first on The Daily Signal.