Politics

Democrats still stumble on how to ‘pass the torch’ to younger leaders

Since John F. Kennedy’s inaugural presidential address, Democrats have talked about passing the torch to the next generation of leadership. That’s been a struggle for the past decade.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) struck the biggest moment of his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on June 27, 2019.

He did it by quoting from a Joe Biden speech in 1987 about passing “the torch” to a younger generation. “Joe Biden was right when he said it was time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans 32 years ago. He’s still right,” Swalwell, then 38, said in a nationally televised debate during the Democratic primary race.

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