Joe Biden will overtake Ronald Reagan – just 78 years old when he left the White House in 1989 – as the United States’ oldest president when he takes office on Wednesday.
Biden, whose doctor in late 2019 said he was physically fit to serve as president, will be older on his first day in office than Reagan on the last. Biden, who turned 78 in November, will also replace President Trump as the oldest to assume the presidency.
Still, he is younger than many of Washington’s top officials. Working well beyond the typical retirement age is one of the few points in a bipartisan agreement in the country’s capital.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is the oldest member of the Senate, aged 87, while Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is less than three months younger than her. Senate Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is 78 years old.
Republican Representative Don Young of Alaska, the oldest person in the U.S. House and a member of Congress since the Nixon administration, is 87 years old. The three main Democratic leaders in his House are not far behind: Mayor of the House, Nancy Pelosi, of California and House The majority leader, Jim Clyburn, of South Carolina, is 80 years old, while the majority leader in the House, Steny Hoyer, from Maryland, is 81 years old.