For the first time in U.S. history, both major parties’ presidential candidates have families intertwined by divorce, highlighting how politics is catching up with contemporary American family dynamics.
This shift reflects significant changes in family structures over the past fifty years, as the political debate intensifies over which party can claim to be more “pro-family.”
Conservatives, including figures such as Donald Trump’s running mate, are advocating for a return to traditional family structures, while Democrats promote a more inclusive vision that embraces diverse family models, including same-sex and blended families, as illustrated by Vice President Kamala Harris’ own background.
Overall, public opinion has shifted significantly, with a growing acceptance of single-parent households and blended families. This marks a notable cultural change since past political figures faced challenges due to their family situations.
Politico has the story:
For the first time, both major parties’ presidential candidates have families that have been knit together by divorce. It’s a sign that politics is finally catching up with America.
The historic nature of the two first families-in-waiting comes after a half-century of dramatic shifts in American family life. And though there has been a long running tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats over which party is the most “pro-family,” that political fight is more heated than ever.
Many conservatives have embraced former President Donald Trump despite his personal life and family structure, rather than because of it; important figures on the right, including Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are pushing for a return to the traditional family structure as a salve for social ills, like declining birth rates, student achievement and crime. Democrats, meanwhile, are articulating a vision of families that includes same-sex couples, blended families, adoptive families and single parents or grandparents — one they argue is reflected in Vice President Kamala Harris’ family.
“It tells the honest story of America and that we’re doing the work of building a more just America where everyone can sit at this table, however you show up, in whatever kind of family model,” said Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who is among the two dozen members of Congress who are stepparents. “Whether you’re talking about two mommies, two daddies, bonus moms — this is reflective of today’s American modern family.”
Harris, herself a child of divorce, has a blended family that includes her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and her stepchildren, Cole and Ella. Trump, who has been divorced twice, has five children, half-siblings with each other from three moms.
It’s a notable sea change since Nelson Rockefeller’s divorce and subsequent remarriage helped sink his 1964 presidential bid. More than a third of children don’t live with two married parents, and nearly one in six kids live in a blended family household with stepparents, stepsiblings or half siblings, according to the Pew Research Center. And 78 percent of people now think single-parent households are acceptable, while 58 percent support married gay or lesbian couples raising children together, according to Pew.
Until Trump, Ronald Reagan was the only president who had ever been divorced.
And, as recently as 2008, John McCain’s first “broken marriage” to Carol McCain, his first wife, was the source of media speculation and titillation. President Joe Biden also has a blended family, though because of the death of his first wife Neilia, not from divorce.