The kids are not all right. The children of several prominent Republicans and supporters of former President Donald Trump have broken with their parents to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, demonstrating the ideological and generational political rifts across the U.S.
Pollsters consider this election to be one of the closest in modern history, and each campaign is searching for any advantage that could give them a boost on Election Day.
Veteran statistician Nate Silver has said that former Democrat turned independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump was the most significant backing so far, but that hasn’t stopped the Harris campaign from locking down several big names themselves.
Getty Images
Caroline Giuliani
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani could be considered Trump’s most loyal soldier. A leading figure in the Trump team’s legal attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, Giuliani has given everything to the former president’s cause, sacrificing his legal career after being disbarred in D.C.
His daughter, Caroline Giuliani, does not seem to share the Republican’s enthusiasm. She has publicly blamed her father’s relationship with Trump as the reason for his decline, and wrote an op-ed in Vanity Fair detailing her view of Harris.
She wrote: “I’m unfortunately well-suited to remind Americans of just how calamitous being associated with Trump can be, even for those who are convinced he’s on their side.
“Watching my dad’s life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America.”
“I need to advocate for a future worth bringing children into, which is why I am voicing my adamant support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
Caroline Giuliani wrote a similar piece for Vanity Fair in 2020, urging people to vote for Joe Biden and end Trump’s “reign of terror.” In 2016, she endorsed Hillary Clinton and when asked how her father felt about that, said, “He knows and is fully comfortable with it and thinks I have a right to my opinion,” according to Politico.
Newsweek has reached out to Caroline Giuliani for comment via email.
Getty Images
Claudia Conway
Kellyanne Conway is a long-time Trump ally – she was the campaign manager of his winning 2016 presidential bid and later served as a senior adviser in the White House. She had to defend the former president from a wave of critics, including her then-husband George Conway, a lawyer and vocal anti-Trump Republican.
Kellyanne Conway’s daughter Claudia has her mother’s media savviness but not her political positions; Claudia is a social-media influencer, with over 1.5 million TikTok followers, and she uses her platform to promote support for Kamala Harris.
Earlier this year, Claudia Conway attended the Democratic National Conference with her father, describing herself as “MAGA’s most-hated.”
Newsweek reached out to Claudia Conway for comment via email.
Vivian Jenna Wilson
Vivian Jenna Wilson is an estranged daughter of Elon Musk, who threw his full weight behind Trump after the former president survived his first assassination attempt.
In the wake of Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris, Vivian branded her father’s post on X, formerly Twitter, in which the billionaire made a crass joke about impregnating the popstar, as “heinous incel nonsense.”
“The timing for the Taylor Swift endorsement of Kamala Harris honestly could not have been better,” Wilson said on social media. “Can’t wait to see the Swifties at the polls! Vote blue.”
Newsweek reached out to Wilson for comment via an email to her mother, Justine Musk.
Getty Images
The McCains
Arizona Sen. John McCain was one of Trump’s biggest opponents in the Republican Party, scuppering the then-president’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and repeatedly clashing over Senate votes.
His son, Jimmy McCain, an Army intelligence officer in the 158th Infantry Regiment, revealed that he had changed his voter registration to Democrat and intended to vote for Harris, saying that Trump had insulted the troops by using Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign video.
However, his older sister Meghan McCain has maintained that she is a “proud member of the Republican Party”. Rather than voting for Harris, the conservative commentator said that she would not be voting for either Trump or Harris.
Newsweek reached out to Meghan and Jimmy McCain for comment via email.
Laura Smith, a presidential historian currently based in Arizona, told Newsweek that endorsements generally have a limited impact on election campaigns, but that changing trends have seen the breakdown of party-based endorsements.
Smith said: ” The advent of Never Trumpers in 2016 upended the dogma that partisanship would reign supreme in determining votes. Voters demonstrated a more independent streak, independent even of being particularly swayed by endorsements.
“But in terms of historical endorsements, it’s really Biden’s loss of endorsements that seems to be most historic in changing the course of an election.
“America seems so far removed from Reagan’s Republican Party and the modern conservatism espoused by John McCain. This sense of moving in a different direction can make traditional Republican stalwarts like the McCains potentially seem out of touch. In Arizona it’s more about key issues like immigration and abortion, which is literally on the ballot, that will determine the election rather than any singular voice.”
Peter Loge, a former adviser within the Obama administration and Director of the George Washington School of Media & Public Affairs, told Newsweek that generational divides of this kind are almost inevitable, highlighting other identity clashes as more significant this election.
Loge said, “Generational splits are part of politics. Some of the divides are generational, just as those who came of age in the 1960s rebelled against their parents. But it’s not as simple as age. A lot of young people, especially young men, say they support Trump. A lot of older people, especially women, say they support Harris.
“The greater divides are between women and men, between those with college degrees and those with high school degrees, and so on. There are a lot of divides in America right now, I’m not sure that the generational divide is the most instructive.
“Families are complicated and don’t always agree. A lot of Republicans, including father-daughter pairs, like vice president and Representative Cheney, are voting for Harris.”
Earlier this year, Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney announced they would vote for Harris, calling Trump a threat to democracy.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about Harris’ endorsements? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
