According to the U.S. Constitution, what is the minimum age for a person to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.?

To serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, an individual must have reached the age of twenty-five. The nation's Framers established this age requirement in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, believing that by this age, a person would have gained sufficient maturity, life experience, and knowledge of public affairs to effectively represent their constituents. This qualification, along with the two-year term, makes the House the most accessible of the three federal elected offices, reflecting its intended role as the chamber closest to the people.

This age floor is part of a tiered system of requirements for federal office. While a Representative must be 25, a Senator must be at least 30 years old, and the President must be 35. This structure was intentional, designed to ensure that those in positions with broader, longer-term responsibilities, like the six-year Senate term, possessed a greater degree of experience and established judgment. Along with age, a candidate for the House must also have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years and be an inhabitant of the state they wish to represent at the time of the election.