Average Age Of NY Delegation In Denver Is Older Than Obama

A little post by Azi at the Observer caught my eye earlier about the New York State Young Democrats, and the seeming lack of them at the convention in Denver this week. Perhaps it was that the President of the YDs here shares a last name with me (no relation that I know 0f though), but it is important to have new blood in the party, whether that be at a local, state or national level. Currently the median age of our state's delegation is six years older than the nominee (to be fair, Obama is the third youngest Senator behind Pryor, 45 and Sununu, 43). Though Silverstein finds a silver lining in the situation.

From The Observer:

But, he added, "on the bright side," a number of Young Democrats from New York won positions in the group’s national parent organization.

“We hope this sends a message that Young Democrats in New York are here in force and will continue to be a strong voice in New York politics for years to come," he said. "We would hope, as we move forward, that we can get young people to run and become delegates in the future.”

As we were chatting, we bumped into Bronx Democratic County Chairman Jose Rivera, and Silverstein asked him to help launch a Young Democrats chapter in his county--the only one in New York City without one.

“They’re already empowered in the Bronx,” Rivera said.

It's hard to read tone and body language in an online article, but that sounded like a put down to me. It looks like the Bronx still needs some work, both for the young Democrats demographic and scaling down the ego of Mr. Rivera. The County Chairman though might not be the right way to go about it though, since young people represent a changing of the guard...and he stands with the forces that embrace the status quo.