The Slow, Painful Death Of The American Political Dynasty

So many of Andrew Cuomo’s flaws were distinctive to him: The grievance and paranoia, the imperial sense of entitlement, the brazen dishonesty about his mismanagement of the Covid crisis and his history of sexual harassment.

In one important way, Cuomo’s defeat in Tuesday’s mayoral primary was not an only-in-New York story. For all the local flavors and personal peculiarities of the former governor’s downfall, it also fits into a larger national story — the extinction of some of the country’s mightiest political dynasties.

This is an age of angry populism and political disruption; breakneck social and technological change; and broad, deep frustration with the economic status quo. Family names that voters once found comforting now seem to have other connotations — complacency, insularity, privilege, obsolescence.

To younger voters, these names may have no connotations at all.

In the past few years, we have seen Democratic primary voters reject members of political dynasties once seen as nearly undefeatable, including a Kennedy in Massachusetts, a Daley in Illinois and a Graham in Florida. When Tammy Murphy, the first lady of New Jersey, attempted to swoop into a Senate seat with the help of her husband’s machine, she was blown out of the race by an insurgent who embodied generational change, now-Sen. Andy Kim.

On the right, Donald Trump’s political movement has purged the party’s most storied dynasties. Republican voters spurned members of the Bush family, Jeb and his son George P., in primary elections. The Cheney family’s titanic stature in Wyoming — and a direct-to-camera appeal from Dick Cheney himself — could not save former Rep. Liz Cheney from a primary challenger in 2022. A scheme by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to install his spouse, Casey, as his successor appears to have unraveled before it began.

General election voters have done their part, declining to elect a Pryor in Arkansas, a Landrieu in Louisiana, a Nunn and a Carter in Georgia, a Laxalt in Nevada, a Casey in Pennsylvania and a Clinton on the national ballot.

Populism is at the core of this story. The political realignment that began during the Great Recession and accelerated in the Trump era saw the electoral ground shift and then collapse under many dynastic politicians, especially Democrats in the South. Some dynasts, like Cuomo and Hillary Clinton, have seemed fatally oblivious to — or contemptuous toward — voters’ raging discontent about contracting economic opportunity and the soaring cost of living.

Plenty of lower-profile dynasties live on. State legislative seats are still passed on from parent to child, family fundraising networks still help lock up sleepy congressional primaries. But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear stands out as a rare political scion in high office, a Democrat whose resilience in MAGA territory sets him apart from a generation of softer nepo babies.

There are forces at work here besides populism. Small-dollar fundraising is easier than ever. The dissemination of information is faster and more chaotic than at any other time in history. The value of an inherited fundraising rolodex or a prominent name has declined as a result.

Americans are also a nation of voters on the move, with millions living in places where famous local names mean nothing to them. In 2023, the American Community Survey found 7.5 million people moved from one state to another. The year before, that number was 8.2 million.

There may be some lessons here ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections.

First, Democratic voters are voraciously hungry for freshness and change. The Democrats thriving this year — not just Zohran Mamdani on the left, but also two centrist gubernatorial candidates, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey — project vitality and vigor that was absent from Cuomo’s hey-it’s-me-again campaign. All these candidates are relatively young, relatively new to politics and were relatively unknown until recently beyond their home districts.

Second, economic discontent remains the organizing force in American politics. Mamdani espoused some views, most of all on Israel, that would have disqualified him in any other mayoral race in modern times. In this election, they did not matter as much to voters as his forceful message on the cost of living. For so many New Yorkers to reject a well-known figure, even one as divisive as Cuomo, in favor of a 33-year-old socialist who made excuses for the slogan “globalize the intifada” is an awfully emphatic display of frustration.

One more lesson: No political power structure lasts forever. Republicans in particular should take note. The Clinton machine was unbeatable in Democratic politics until it wasn’t. The Bush name towered over Texas until it didn’t.

Right now, it may be hard to imagine a day when the Trump family loses its iron grip on Republican politics. It is as unthinkable as a Cuomo losing to a socialist in Queens.