Politics is a family business for these 2026 candidates. Voters may not care. 

For a host of candidates running for office up and down the ballot in this year’s midterms, politics is a family business.

The race for governor of Maine alone has drawn three candidates with well-known political ties: Angus King III, the son of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine); Hannah Pingree, the daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine); and Jonathan Bush, a cousin of former President George W. Bush.

In New York, Jack Schlossberg, a member of the famed Kennedy family, is running for Congress. And, across the country in California, Christine Pelosi, daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), the former House Speaker, is vying for a state Senate seat.

While political relatives can provide access to political networks, fundraising opportunities and institutional experience, some question whether familial ties carry the same political weight they once did with voters.

Angus King III told The Hill he thinks there’s an “antidynasty feeling” in today’s politics, drawing a distinction between a child following a parent into politics and a family with a multigenerational political legacy.

“You probably have to win five or six Super Bowls before you get to ‘dynasty,’” he said.

Still, American University historian Allan Lichtman said voters in today’s polarized society want change and are increasingly distrustful of elected officials.

“In this era of extreme polarization, I don’t think connections to an established political family really mean very much,” Lichtman said in an interview with The Hill.

“Connections with government,” he added, are not “necessarily a plus in a time when the prevailing mood is to be distrustful and hostile toward the government.”

Political dynasties have long shaped the American electoral landscape, aided by the name recognition that comes with a famous family.

In the last 40 years alone, the Bushes and the Clintons occupied the White House and remained major forces in national politics. Former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was preceded by President George H.W. Bush and succeeded by President George W. Bush, a Republican father-and-son pair.

Hillary Clinton was first lady before she became a U.S. senator in New York. She then served as secretary of State under former President Obama before becoming the first woman to represent a major party on a presidential ticket in 2016.

The Bush family — which includes former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016 — is one of four in American history to produce two presidents, along with the Adams, Roosevelt and Harrison families.

For the Kennedys, Lichtman said, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s failed bid to become Maryland’s governor in 2002 “really marked the beginning of the end of that dynasty.”

“There isn’t much left of the Bush dynasty either, or the Clinton dynasty,” Lichtman added. “So it does seem to be these extended familial successes have not carried over into very recent times.”

This cycle, another Bush is seeking office. Pitching himself as “a new kind of Bush,” Jonathan Bush is running in a crowded Republican primary for governor of Maine.

But he’s not the only big-name candidate with a well-known political lineage in the race, which Cook Political Report rates as likely Democratic. Angus King III and Hannah Pingree are both vying to overtake Nirav Shah, a former deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others in the crowded June 9 Democratic primary.

King, a businessman who’s worked in renewable energy and affordable housing, has leaned on his family name, telling voters on his campaign website, “You know his dad, so you know his values.” But the candidate has also emphasized his professional experience, which he sees as “very important in this moment, especially in Maine,” as he embraces Democrats’ “abundance” agenda.

“I wouldn’t change it,” King told The Hill in an interview, when asked about running as the popular independent senator’s son.........

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