Fresher faces, same names: Meet New England's new crop of politicians' relatives who are looking at elected office

Boston Globe

4 days ago

King's dad is Angus King Jr., the third-term US senator and former two-term governor of Maine, who remains one of the most popular politicians in the state. An entrepreneur and businessman, the younger King, 54, has not previously run for elected office or held any government position.
And King may have a rival in the Democratic primary for governor who also has a parent in Congress: Hannah Pingree, the 48-year-old daughter of Representative Chellie Pingree, who has held the state's 1st Congressional District since 2008. Hannah Pingree, a former speaker of the Maine House, is widely considered to be mulling a bid for governor after she recently stepped down from a post in the office of current Governor Janet Mills.
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And then there is a scion of one of Maine's — and the nation's —most
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Across the border in New Hampshire, another political dynasty could be perpetuated in 2026: Stefany Shaheen, a 51-year-old former Portsmouth city councilor, is running for New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District. But most voters will know her mother best: Jeanne Shaheen, who has served as US senator from New Hampshire since 2008 and, before that, was a three-term governor. Her father, Billy Shaheen, serves on the Democratic National Committee and is a former US attorney.
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Children of American politicians have followed in their parents' footsteps since John Quincy Adams, the progeny of Massachusetts' first political dynasty, won the presidency 25 years after his father. But the current crop of candidates from well-known families comes at a time when many voters, Democrats in particular, are increasingly dissatisfied with their established (read: older)
political class and are hungry for new faces.
Whether candidates with different faces but the same names can gain traction in 2026 will test voters' long-standing fondness for political dynasties, which has been a hallmark — sometimes uncomfortably — of American politics.
Former New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu knows something about running with a famous political last name: He is the son of a former governor who also served as White House chief of staff for the elder George Bush, and his brother is a former US senator. In an interview, Sununu said there are two fundamentals of running in a situation like this.
'The first key is to surprise people either in terms of your personality or approach to policy. You just have to be a little bit different so people take notice, but you don't want to shock them into disbelief,' said Sununu, who broke with his relatives by supporting abortion rights.
'The second bit of advice is to actively campaign retail style so people can meet you and not rely on just money and television ads,' he added. 'Being out there a lot and seen as earning the vote does a lot to quell the nepo baby argument that you are always going to hear.'
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Dan Kildee, a former Democratic congressman from Michigan, said the environment facing candidates from political families has changed significantly since 2012, when he won the seat left by his uncle, Dale Kildee.
That's 'because the sort of populist, anti-institutional sentiment is something you see in both parties now and is pretty prevalent,' Kildee said. 'My advice would be, don't ignore this factor, don't assume it's a net positive.'
'When your name represents the establishment, it does require you to take seriously the obligation to try to separate yourself and define yourself separately from conventional politics,' Kildee said. 'And that's hard.'
In a statement to the Globe, King III said that asking whether having his father is helpful in his campaign is like asking Wayne Gretzky's son if it helps to have Gretzky as his dad. 'The answer is: of course,' he said.
'I was lucky to grow up having dinner every night with one of Maine's great public servants. He helped shape me into who I am today,' King III said. 'And just like my dad, I'm always looking to bring people together to solve the hardest problems.'
Stefany Shaheen told the Globe she gets questions at campaign house parties about her lineage, saying she is 'incredibly proud' of her mom but emphasized she is running as her own person. She cited her years of advocacy for advancing medical research for people like her daughter, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age eight.
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'Now, I'm running to fight for all New Hampshire and fight back against what Donald Trump, Bobby Kennedy, and the Republicans are doing to crush medical research and slash Medicaid,' said Shaheen. 'But I know how hard campaigns are having watched it up close, and I know I am going to have to work twice as hard,' given the heightened expectations of her last name.
A spokesperson for Senator Shaheen referred the Globe to her post on X touting her daughter's resume, which 'has shown me she has the experience, heart and determination needed to make a difference' for the state.
Hannah Pingree did not respond to a request for comment.
Elsewhere in the country, other political children are seeking office, including Adelita Grijalva, who is running for the Arizona congressional seat left vacant by the death of her father, Representative Raúl Grijalva.
But the phenomenon appears most pronounced in New England, where the success of famous families has been a feature, not a bug of politics. Massachusetts has its Kennedys and Lodges, Rhode Island its Chaffees, New Hampshire its Greggs and Sununus; both Connecticut and Maine claim the Bushes.
'In some sense, these political families are an affront to the old Yankee ethos of individualism and getting ahead by working hard,' said Erin O'Brien, political science chair at the University of Massachusetts Boston, who has written about New England politics. 'But New England voters have not shied away from voting for these political dynasties again and again.'
The appeal of legacy political families has shown signs of fading more recently, however. Former representative Joe Kennedy III saw his famed family become a foil for Senator Ed Markey, who defeated him in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2020.
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So far, there haven't been signs of similar attacks against the 2026 cohort.
Dante Scala, a University of New Hampshire politics professor, said a nepotism charge becomes a dynamic in races only if opponents are willing to exploit it. Otherwise, it might only be a factor in close races if voters are inclined not to like it.
Martha Fuller Clark, a two-time Democratic nominee for the seat Shaheen is seeking, told the Globe there are obvious advantages.
'The Shaheen name ID among New Hampshire Democrats is nearly 100 percent,' said Clark, who is not running this time but has endorsed a Shaheen rival in the primary, Maura Sullivan.
A third Democrat who just joined the primary for the Congressional seat, Carleigh Beriont, leaned into the theme by saying in an interview that one reason she is running is to ensure 'my kids, especially my daughter, to grow up believing that they deserve a seat at the table regardless of their last name or how much money they have.'
In an interview with the Globe, Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate who is running for governor as a Democrat, didn't make too much of the pedigrees of his potential rivals.
Asked about the appeal of King and Pingree's names in the race, he said, 'I don't really know. All I know is, I'm going to fight for people that I know across the state are frustrated by government.'
More generally, Jackson said, the last 50 years have seen 'the same people sitting around the same table making the same decisions — and wondering why the same things are happening.'
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One of Jackson's most high-profile supporters comes from a well-known Democratic family himself: Maine state Senator Joe Baldacci, whose brother John was a two-term governor and former congressman.
'I don't think anyone is given a pass because they have a certain last name at all,' Baldacci said. 'Maine people give you a consideration, but you've got to back it up.'
He praised Hannah Pingree's own record in politics and said while he has 'deep affection' for Senator King, Baldacci wondered if his son had the relationships and experience advocating for Democratic policies to win sufficient support.
A recent poll of the gubernatorial field from longtime Maine pollster Pan Atlantic Research, however, showed King III with the most support, and by far the most recognition: Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed said they were familiar with him.
Nonetheless, observers in Maine and elsewhere see the dynamic around political family brands inevitably becoming part of these key races.
'His name's Angus King,' said Wes Pelletier, a Portland city councilman who has endorsed Jackson. 'There's no way that conversation isn't going to happen.'
Sam Brodey can be reached at