electoralism

Can't speak for US but here in the UK I've noticed there's an abundance of oldies in my council and local politics mostly because when they got older and their partners died or some shit happened they ended up with nothing else. They actually do the politics as their way of getting out and about and exposed to other people. If they weren't doing it most of them would rot because they have literally nothing else in their lives and basically nothing exists for over 60s to get social activity together except for bingo halls or church (which they won't do because they grew up without it).