Georgians showing up to vote in Tuesday’s primaries might not be surprised to see a Republican candidate named Kingston on the ballot for Congress.

Like the squares in Savannah or St. Simon’s Island’s lighthouse, the Kingston family name has become a local institution because of Jack Kingston, who represented the 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 22 years.

“Jack Kingston is such a big name and such a big figure around this area of coastal Georgia,” Georgia Southern University associate professor Kimberly Martin told ABC News. “We know that name recognition is everything.”

But Jack Kingston isn’t running for office Tuesday. Instead, his son, Jim Kingston, is hoping to be elected to his father’s old seat.

Jim Kingston says on his website that he has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and that he is “running because my generation is the one paying the bill for Washington’s chaos, and we deserve a seat at the table.”

“He really is trying to simultaneously leverage his dad’s political history and dynasty, but then simultaneously trying to distance himself from it,” said Hanna Brant, an associate professor at SUNY Geneseo.

‘Legacy families are not going out of style’

From Georgia to Alaska, some of the best-known American political families will have a presence on voters’ midterm ballots.

“I didn’t get to choose my last name, but my values are based on those family values,” Tom Begich, a Democrat running for governor in Alaska, told ABC News.

Political involvement has become a tradition for several members of his family, many of whom are affiliated with the Democratic Party. They include his brother Mark Begich, a former U.S. senator and mayor of Anchorage, and his late uncle Joseph Begich, who was prominent in Minnesota politics. Tom Begich was 11 years old when his father, then-Rep. Nick Begich Sr., died in a plane crash in Alaska.

“Historically, the United States has had dynasties, if you will, and I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Tom Begich said. “I mean it like, if you grow up in the milieu of politics, it’s like a person who grows up as a blacksmith in the 1800s [and] has a child who’s a blacksmith, and then eventually a child who’s a steel worker, because it’s all within the same field.”

In California, Christine Pelosi, whose mother is former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, is running on the Democratic ticket for a state senate seat.

And in New Hampshire, Sen. John E. Sununu, a member of what is arguably New Hampshire’s best-known political family, is running in the Republican primary in a bid to return to the Senate. His father, John H. Sununu, and his brother, Chris Sununu, both served as Republican governors of the Granite State.

“Legacy families are not going out of style,” Martin said

‘Well, your last name is Bush’

Jonathan Bush, whose uncle was former President George H.W. Bush and whose cousins include former President George W. Bush and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, is hoping to win the Republican nomination for governor of Maine.

“He’s sort of calling himself this turnaround machine and this disruptor because he’s trying to shed that moderate establishment image that really hurt Jeb Bush in 2016,” Martin said.

In April, Jonathan Bush released a radio commercial in which a voter says, “Jonathan, I gotta be honest. I’m pro-MAGA, and, well, your last name is Bush.”

“I get it,” Jonathan Bush responds in the ad, calling himself a “disruptor” and aiming to distinguish himself from politicians and lobbyists.

“What’s really interesting now is that a lot of candidates from prominent families are following sort of a hybrid strategy where they’re using the family network and family name, but they’re updating the family message, and I think that we’re really seeing this particularly among Republican candidates,” Martin said.

While some candidates from legacy political families might try to distance themselves from their relatives, others embrace their family connections.

Jack Schlossberg, a grandson of former President John F. Kennedy who is running as a Democrat in New York’s 12th Congressional District, campaigned on Mother’s Day with his mother, Caroline Kennedy. He quoted his grandfather in a recent debate and has spoken about his roots multiple times, both on the campaign trail and before announcing his run for office.

But not all candidates are on the same page as their relatives.

Tom Begich isn’t the only member of his family running for office in Alaska in 2026, though he is the only one running as a Democrat. His nephew, Rep. Nick Begich III, is running for reelection to Congress as a Republican.

“He doesn’t support me, I don’t support him, but we’re still family,” Tom Begich added. “We still have to break bread.”

With so many candidates from prominent political backgrounds on ballots around the U.S. in 2026, it remains to be seen how voters will respond.

“We’re experiencing economic issues and concerns in the grocery stores, and these politicians [and] political dynasties … are coming from wealthy, very privileged backgrounds that could be a turn off to voters right now who are facing significant economic barriers and stressors,” Brant said.

Yet in other cases, voters may view familiar political last names as signs of stability who can help take them out of hard times, Martin said.

“I think the bottom line is this,” Tom Begich said, “if the point of doing public service is legacy, then you got it wrong.”