The other day, I heard an interesting thing that made me both hopeful but somewhat skeptical. With a huge number of gubernatorial races coming up next year, often for term-limited incumbents, many candidates have been jumping into contests in states all across the country. In Kansas, though, two of these candidates are particularly interesting. One Democrat and one Republican, 16 and 17 years old respectively.
I’m not kidding. Since Kansas has no age requirements for state races, two teenagers have decided to throw their hats into the ring to become the next chief executive of the Sunflower State. From what I’ve seen and read about their campaigns, they both seem to be perfectly reasonable and able candidates with good perspectives on how to run their state, but could people seriously consider students who haven’t even yet earned a high school diploma to be an effective governor?
Age requirements are something we have here in Minnesota, and they were written directly into the Constitution. To run for the state legislature here, you need to be at least 21, and 25 for governor. The Constitution of the United States says you need to have attained the age of 25 to be a Representative, 30 to be a Senator, and 35 to be the President.
But what are the arguments around these age limits? Many would say age brings real-life experience and wisdom. Until you’re out of school and out making a living, there are many things that seem different. Would other state politicians or our neighbors respect someone under 20 years of age as a governor?
There are those who might say that age is not a factor, though. There are people who are brilliant starting from a young age. Age isn’t necessarily a measure of intelligence or experience. There are high-school students who know more than many older adults.
In my opinion, I don’t think age limits should be the end-all be-all, but there should be some consensus. As cool as it would be to have a state governor my own age, I realize the experience and know-how to run a state comes with time. Book smarts don’t always translate into solutions to real-world problems. Things work much better in theory than in actuality, and we ultimately want someone we can trust to be a strong and respected leader for our state.
So perhaps for offices like governor, age requirements should stay. But once people gain the right to vote, shouldn’t they also be able to run for office? With the age minimum for members of the Minnesota State Legislature being 21, this means new voters must wait three years for a chance to run on the state level. Most local governments can have 18-year-old candidates, but these jobs are often part-time and not conducive to office-holders without a long-term, steady job.
It wouldn’t be hard to move this age requirement to 18. Though we probably wouldn’t get many young state representatives, it would open the political process in St. Paul to people at a younger age. This would mean more engagement and perhaps more of a stake for young people in our state, bringing up voter turnout and political engagement. Voter apathy is an increasing problem and one we shouldn’t ignore. If we give young people a chance, we might just be surprised at the good solutions they come up with.
Connor Kockler is a Sauk Rapids-Rice High School student. He enjoys writing, politics and news, among other interests.
