Could Shaheen & King Suffer the Sins of their Parents?

City Councilor Stefany Shaheen (D-NH)

Last night, eight Democratic senators banded together with all but one of the Senate Republicans (Rand Paul being the holdout) to put an end to the longest shutdown in government history.  In the process, they essentially got nothing more than a ceremonial nod to their chief concern-the skyrocketing premiums that are going to go into place as a result of this move for the Affordable Care Act, where millions of low-income and unemployed Americans will face the brunt of this burden.  The Democrats this morning tried to defend it, with people like Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) going on Fox News (always a good sign you know you did the wrong thing when you choose to lead off on Fox News with your decision as a Democrat) to state that this was needed, and they were the brave ones for ending the shutdown, but Democrats were appropriately livid at this mischaracterization.  This is a deal that could've been struck weeks ago, and as a result it looks like we shut down the government for nothing (because at this point, we did)...and it's likely that Democrats will bear most of the blame for this as a result, when in reality we were poised to take none of it.  Coming off of an historically strong blue wave election last Tuesday, this made the eight Democrats involved look like cowards.

But Democrats who want to punish these eight senators are in a weird, and seemingly coordinated position where that would be impossible.  For starters, none of these eight senators (Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, John Fetterman, Jacky Rosen, Catherine Cortez Masto, Angus King, & Dick Durbin) are on the ballot in 2026-two of them are retiring, and the rest aren't up until 2028 or 2030.  The cynic in me wonders if this is partly the reason that Mark Warner, who was heavily rumored to be interested in the deal, ended up sitting it out (because he is running in 2026), but you can't blame Warner at this point given he did the right thing in the end, and everything before that is just negotiating gossip.  It's already confirmed that Shaheen & Durbin are retiring, and it's heavily assumed that Kaine, King, & probably Hassan will retire at the ends of their terms as well.  John Fetterman remains a wild card, but was already DOA in a Democratic primary in 2028 even if he does run, and so you're left with the two Democratic senators in Nevada who are betting (likely correctly) that in a purple state that no one is willing to destroy the careers of possibly the only Democrats who can hold those seats safely.  You could try to go after Chuck Schumer, and you should (even though he voted against the deal, only an idiot would believe that Shaheen, Kaine, & especially Durbin would do this if Schumer was truly against it), but again-Schumer is a likely retirement risk, and his primary isn't until 2028.  I expect an increasing amount of pressure on Democratic senators to ask for Schumer to step aside as leader (whether that goes anywhere is anyone's guess), but honestly-there's not a clear path for this anger to go toward...unless you want to make this a family affair.

A weird quirk this morning that I noticed when I was looking through Twitter was a post from Stefany Shaheen.  Shaheen is running for the open 1st district House seat in New Hampshire, and she stated that she did not support the deal, and would not vote for it if she was in office.  What's interesting, of course, is that Shaheen is not just a congressional candidate-she is also Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's daughter.  Shaheen is not the only one of these senators who has a kid running in 2026-Angus King's son Angus King III is also running for office (Governor of Maine), and it's hard not to wonder-could voters take out their anger on these senators' children as retribution since there's no practical way to punish the actual causes of this issue (i.e. their parents)?

Despite American politics being a family affair (for a country founded off of throwing out a monarchy, we sure do like our dynastic politics), there's not a lot of evidence for what I'm positing here (that King & Shaheen's children might bear the brunt of their parents' actions).  The most recent example of this was in 2024, when Rep. Rob Menendez endured a relatively close (for an incumbent) election in the wake of his father Sen. Bob Menendez being charged with (and eventually indicted for) conspiracy.  But the younger Menendez still won, and is proof that voters tend to be able to separate parent-and-child when it comes to this, even when it's a case where the child should shoulder some responsibility.  In 2004, Sen. Lisa Murkowski barely hung onto her office in the wake of her being appointed by her own dad (i.e. the quintessential nepotism senator), who was governor at the time, but she did win.  In fact, it was her father Frank (on an unrelated scandal) who ended up losing, this time to future VP nominee Sarah Palin.  In 2010, Rory Reid had to run alongside his unpopular (at the time) incumbent Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada when the younger Reid ran for governor, but despite his dad being the unpopular one, it was the younger Reid who lost, less because of his dad's sins and more because his father had a weaker opponent (and, let's be honest, his dad was the savvier pol).

Angus King III (D-ME)

So in some ways this might be new territory if it works, and I suspect that Shaheen & King's opponents are going to try to make it work.  In Shaheen's race, State Rep. Heath Howard (one of her opponents) called her out directly on BlueSky, saying "then why did your mom vote for it?" when she claimed that she disagreed with the deal.  Shaheen's chief opponent in the House race (DNC Vice Chair Maura Sullivan) stated  "Democrats should be standing firm, not surrendering when Americans' health is at stake."

The same was happening in King's race, and in a rather twisted way given what King's dad just did to his campaign.  One of his main opponents, House Speaker Hannah Pingree put out a pointed statement declaring "congressional Democrats cannot rely on a vague commitment by Republicans who have only ever sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act," a pretty direct attack on Sen. King's thinking this morning.  What makes this a bit eyebrow-raising is that Pingree's mother Chellie is (like Sen. King) also a member of Congress (she's in the US House), and made an equally pointed post, stating that this "deal" (she put deal in quotations) "that lets ACA credits expire fails the millions of families counting on us to keep their health care affordable."  While Shaheen & King are watching their parents torch their chances in left-leaning primaries, Rep. Pingree is doing her daughter a solid by standing up to these attacks, perhaps even winning the family name some points in a tough primary.

To close, I want to just say that I personally think (regardless of what statements the younger Shaheen & King put out in the coming days) it's totally fair to punish the kids in this situation, and I personally would not vote for them if I was in their states.  Unlike, say, Hannah Pingree, neither Stefany nor Angus III has ever held major public office before, and they are in large part running on the legacies of their parents' names.  If those parents are destroying those legacies, it's completely sensible for voters to ask "why would I give their kids a second chance if I wouldn't do so for their parents?"  As a result, and quite frankly as a steaming mad Democrat who is pissed that King, Shaheen, and the other six Democrats (along with Chuck Schumer's inaction) allowed us to get completely owned by Republicans and in the process deny healthcare to millions of Americans, I'm hoping both King and Shaheen have to watch their children lose elections they might have otherwise won were it not for their dereliction of duty.  It's the very least they should have to go through for how they betrayed their voters last night.