Rahm Emanuel, a prominent Democrat who has signaled his desire to run for president in 2028, on Wednesday called for a mandatory retirement age of 75 for the president, cabinet officials, members of Congress and federal judges.
Mr. Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor and ambassador to Japan, urged the age cap during remarks that were largely focused on education policy at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank in Washington.
“Across all three branches of government, 75 years — you’re out,” Mr. Emanuel said as he laid out a proposal for sweeping ethics changes. “Clean it up, all of Washington, and when you’re 75, you can’t do that in the military, you can’t do it in corporate America, you should not be in government at all. Thank you for your service, up and out.”
Mr. Emanuel is rarely seen as part of the top tier of Democrats jockeying to run for the party’s next presidential nomination. But he is one of the most active in trying to guide the party’s direction as it tries to win back power and considers its future.
Mr. Emanuel’s call for an age cap follows the elections of the two oldest presidents in American history. President Trump, 79, has in recent months appeared to fall asleep during Oval Office meetings. His predecessor, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., was forced to abandon his 2024 re-election campaign at age 81, after Democratic leaders finally acquiesced to the reality that most of America thought he was too old to run again.
Mr. Emanuel is 66, older than many of the Democrats and Republicans who are seen as the next generation of American political leaders. If he were elected president in 2028, his age limit of 75 would in theory prohibit him from serving for a second term.
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“You can count,” Mr. Emanuel wrote in a text message when asked if the age cap would apply to him, going on to detail his past efforts to enact stricter ethics rules.
Mr. Emanuel’s proposal came in response to a question from Neera Tanden, the chief executive of the Center for American Progress, about what the Democratic agenda should be for this year’s midterm elections. Mr. Emanuel led the House Democrats’ campaign arm 20 years ago, when Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” and the party seized control of Congress from Republicans.
Mr. Emanuel said the party should aim to reprise that anticorruption theme this year.
“Whether you have Supreme Court justices taking gifts or members of Congress stock trading or what’s going on in the executive branch, not only with the members but their families — clean it up, because it’s the first step,” Mr. Emanuel said. “Whether that’s at the Supreme Court, lower court, the legislative branch, secretaries of state, other members of the cabinet. Clean it up, all of Washington.”
Mr. Emanuel is hardly the first politician to propose limits on how long elected officials can serve in office. American presidents are limited to two terms; 37 states have some form of term limits for governors; and another 16 states have term limits for legislators. Congress has never imposed limits on itself, and the Constitution’s “good behavior” clause has long been interpreted as a lifetime appointment for federal judges.
Age and term limits have long been popular with voters. In 2023, polling from the Pew Research Center found that 82 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats backed a maximum age limit for federal elected officials, while 82 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Republicans favored age limits for Supreme Court justices.
Two of the nine Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., are 75 or older. The Senate has 17 members who are 75 or older, and the House has 45 such members.
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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