Voters in North Dakota passed a ballot measure Tuesday placing a maximum age limit for lawmakers representing the state in Congress, a first-of-its-kind measure in the country amid an ongoing focus on the age of candidates running in the 2024 presidential election, where an 81-year-old President Joe Biden is set to take on a soon-to-be 78-year-old Donald Trump.
File Photo: Voters in North Dakota passed a ballot measure placing an age limit on Congressional ... [+]
The Associated Press reported the approval of the measure, which received nearly 61% of ‘Yes’ votes with more than 95% of all ballots counted.
The new rule amends North Dakota’s constitution, preventing congressional candidates from running for office if they turn 81 a year before their term ends.
The measure will not impact this year’s election, as it is set to go into effect ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Jared Hendrix, a 41-year-old running as a Republican for the state legislature, led support for the measure, while U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., had opposed it, saying voters' choices should not be limited “arbitrarily.”
The measure is likely to face legal challenges. The U.S. Constitution has a minimum age criteria for candidates running for federal office—35 for presidents, 30 for U.S senators and 25 for U.S House members—however, there is no mention of a maximum age. In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot impose term limits or any additional qualifiers on candidates running for office beyond what the Constitution specifies. Mark Jendrysik, professor of political science at the University of North Dakota, told the Associated Press he believes the ballot measure is intended to be a test case for the Supreme Court to rule on individual states setting their own congressional age limits.
The new age limit rule is not likely to have an impact on the state’s current crop of Congressional lawmakers. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., who serves the state’s sole Congressional District in the House of Representatives is 47. Armstrong, who won the Republican party’s Gubernatorial primary is not running for re-election, however, Julie Fedorchak, who won the GOP primary for the seat in the deep red state is 55. The two U.S. Senators representing the state Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., are 63 and 67 respectively.