Talk Elections

is it possible that such a thing ever happens again in congress? I found that for the republicans there was a time period in the late 20th century where it was not uncommon for the most senior republican to have served for less than 30 years:

Beginning of 94th congress January 1975
Most Senior Republican(s):
El Cederberg (MI-10)
Bob Wilson (CA-41)
John Rhodes (AZ-01)
years in office: 22

Beginning of 95th Congress January 1977
Most Senior Republican(s)
Same as above
Years in Office: 24

Beginning of 96th Congress January 1979
Most Senior Republican(s)
Bob Wilson (CA-41)
John Rhodes (AZ-01)
Years in Office: 26

Beginning of 97th Congress January 1981
Most Senior Republican(s)
John Rhodes (AZ-01)
Years in Office 28

Beginning of 98th Congress January 1983
Most Senior Republican(s)
Bill Broomfield (MI-18)
Bob Michel (IL-18)
Years in Office: 26

Beginning of 99th Congress January 1985
Most Senior Republican(s)
Same as above
Years in Office: 28

For the democrats meanwhile, the last time the most senior democrat had been in office for less than 30 years was in the mid 1930s when Adolf Sabbath, a German jewish immigrant representing Chicago, was the dean of the house.

Is it possible that the democrats could ever experience another bottleneck?

Those that like to linger around Congress 6, 7, 8 decades and die there clinging to power tend to be Democrats and those who tend to wanna get out and move on to other things tend to be Republican

Republicans have a much easier time moving on to lobbying their former colleagues to pass bills to help whichever industry will cut them a check large enough... some Dems do that, but it's not as common nor so widely accepted a career goal.

The 10 longest tenured Congress people ever were Democrats, 17 of the top 19

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service

A lot of the democrats longevity can be explained by certain areas (mostly urban cores) having been democratic for a lot longer than any comparably large area has been republican (so more opportunity for a super old incumbent). Also democrats had and have a lot more super safe seats, so they would be expected to win them all the time, increasing an incumbents tenure.

That was true up until 20 years ago, but not so much anymore. Also, there used to be a lot of super-old Dixiecrats.

Well yes, but the republicans who won seats in 1994 still won't be old enough to show up on the lists.