If Mitt Romney wins November’s election, he would become the “junior” senator to Sen. Mike Lee, even though he’s 24 years older than Lee.
Romney is the heavy favorite to defeat Democrat Jenny Wilson in November and replace Sen. Orrin Hatch in Washington. His victory would produce a number of historical oddities according to Smart Politics:
- Romney would be the “junior” Senator from Utah to Sen. Mike Lee, even though he’s 24 years, 2 months and 24 days older than Lee. That would be one of the biggest age gaps in a state delegation since the turn of the century. Only Hawaii has a bigger age gap, with Mazie Hirono being 24 years, 11 months and 17 days older than Brian Schatz.
- There are currently nine state delegations in the U.S. Senate where the junior senator is older than the senior senator: Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. Aside from Hawaii, the age gap in the other states is less than 5 years.
Some other historical oddities if Romney ends up winning in November:
- He will record the longest stretch between losing and winning U.S. Senate campaigns among major party nominees in the chamber’s history (24 years).
- He will become just the second statehood governor to win a U.S. Senate seat from another state.
- He would become just the fourth failed presidential candidate to subsequently win a U.S. Senate seat in the modern primary era, and – at the age of 71 years, 9 months, 23 days – will land on the Top 10 list of the oldest elected first-term U.S. Senators.
