I was 7 years old in 1997. A lot has changed since then. I’m taller. I’m married, iPhones exist and the Red Sox have a few more World Series titles. Somehow, though, Susan Collins is still my senator.

Sen. Collins expects a sixth term that would make her an octogenarian. Sen. King will be 86 by the end of his. We are watching, in real time, the decline of our current and former president.

Now, as Mainers feel energized by a working-class millennial candidate with skin in the game, Janet Mills wants in?

It isn’t ageist or selfish to want my generation represented in Washington. Across workplaces and institutions, we celebrate retirement as a natural transition and accomplishment. Our representative government should be no exception.

Respectfully, Gov. Mills should prove that wisdom comes with age and find another meaningful way to spend her golden years.

Joanna Sinclair
Brunswick