Main Characters (Logan Roy, Kendall Roy, Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, Roman Roy) | Extended Roy Family | Waystar RoyCo | Other Companies | Politics | Other Characters
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The Republican Party
The President
The President of the United States a.k.a. "The Raisin"
Portrayed By: N/A
The current president of the United States.
- Ambiguous Situation: Does he really have some kind of cognitive decline, or is that just a rumor Logan fueled?
- Blackmail: The Roy family essentially tries to coerce the Raisin into ordering the Department of Justice to back off from Waystar-Royco by pushing the narrative on ATN that he's senile and there's a conspiracy afoot to cover it up. Rather than pressure him into standing down from the investigation, they undermine him enough to not seek a second term, and they're forced to pick a new candidate to support.
- The Ghost: He hasn't yet been seen on the show.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He's implied to be unstable and quick to anger. While attempting to have a civil conversation with the man, Logan holds up the phone for Kerry to hear the incoherent ranting. Later, he aborts his reelection run just because he's angry about ATN's critical coverage.
- Invisible President: A pretty textbook example, with only his voice heard faintly over the phone.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: A conservative politician — likely elderly and wrinkled, quite possibly from California — turned President, with evidence suggesting that he might be suffering from problems with memory and cognition while in office. Even the nickname "Raisin" is a tip-off.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His name is yet to be said on the show, and he's instead referred to derisively by others as "the California Raisin" or simply "the raisin".
Boyer
Dave Boyer
Portrayed By: Reed Birney
The current Vice President of the United States, who seeks political support from Logan for his own presidential run.
- Casting Gag: Reed Birney previously played a similarly doormat Vice President in House of Cards (US).
- Extreme Doormat: He's the Vice President, but he's still only too happy to kowtow to not only Logan, but anyone associated with him, like Kerry.
- Vice President Who?: Absolutely nobody shows him an iota of respect, and he's mostly considered a boring joke by the Roys.
Michelle-Anne
Michelle-Anne Vanderhoeven
Portrayed By: Linda Emond
A senior White House aide.
- Iron Lady: She's a professional and powerful woman who's steely, no-nonsense, and all-business.
- Mouth of Sauron: She communicates the wishes and mood of the unseen president.
Mencken
Jeryd Mencken
Portrayed By: Justin Kirk
A controversial far-right Congressman whom the Roys support for a presidential nomination.
- Ambiguous Ending: While things are looking bleak by the series' end, it's worth remembering that Mencken has not actually legally won the election yet; a major news network called it for him, but that doesn't change the fact that there are ample grounds for a major battleground state to hold a revote. While it's still very possible that Mencken will win his courtcase and keep Wisconsin in the electoral college and become President, it's not a guarantee. The series ends without resolution on the point, leaving a possibility, however small, that Wisconsin will hold a revote and, without the destruction of Milwaukee's ballots, the state will flip and Mencken will lose the election. What this would mean for Waystar and the country is unclear, and he says he'd run again if he lost, backed by a very rabid and furious base that thinks the election was stolen, but it would at least keep a fascist out of the White House for four more years.
- Ambiguously Gay: We have nothing explicit to go off of, but he and Roman's interactions are extremely homoerotic, particularly their intimate meeting in a bathroom (as Roman indiscreetly puts it, two guys having some 'disgusting fun'). The way they awkwardly walk side by side after this has been noted as rather suspect. Perhaps ironic in regards to his conservative ideology, at no point is there any reference to him having a wife or children; the only president to ever be unwed while in office was James Buchanan, whose potential homosexuality has been analysed thoroughly by historians.
- Angry White Man: He is very upset about the possibility that non-whites just might have a say in how the country is run.
- The Bad Guy Wins: If he wins the upcoming court case regarding the election, he will have everything he wants: the presidency, a mainstream platform to serve as his mouthpiece, the Roys out of the picture so he doesn’t have to deal with them, and a US CEO of Waystar to placate his base.
- The Charmer: It definitely takes some doing to win Logan Roy over on the same night you stood within earshot and loudly denounced him.
- Faux Affably Evil: A magnetically charismatic man with horrifying political views.
- In rare moments he even lets the charm mask slip completely, like cruelly mocking Roman for having a breakdown at his father’s funeral, or being totally clear to Shiv he doesn’t like ‘some motherfuckers in his tent’.
- Gay Conservative: He's unambiguously alt-right and his interactions with Roman heavily imply he's into men.
- Hate Sink: Given that he's a sleazy, racist, and unbearably smug politician, there’s absolutely nothing to like about Mencken.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Downplayed. Mencken, Boyer notes, is conspicuously light on stated policy if he were to gain high office, for the simple reason that he's a loathsome racist but savvy enough to know that expressing the full extent of what he believes would alienate him from a wider coalition of followers. This doesn't stop people, like Shiv, from intuiting his motives; it just gives him a pretense he can use to deny and deflect their accusations.
- Hot-Blooded: Mencken is brash and loud, which of course attracts Roman who describes him not-inaccurately as "box office".
- Meaningful Name: Jeryd makes very vocal overtures of intellectualism while holding elitist views on the innate superiority of certain people over others, much like his namesake.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Invoked In-Universe. Much like real-life alt-right figures, Mencken's views are basically plucked from the Nazis (and a few other fascist ideologies) but it's considered taboo/"virtue signaling" to outright accuse them of such. On the show, no character outright calls him a Nazi, but they use just about every other word. He even goes so far as to crack wise about "gulags."
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Mencken is a composite of several real-world politicians and public figures: he is introduced as an online alt-right intellectualist talking head à la Jordan Peterson, he bears a physical resemblance to Josh Hawley, but his dog-whistling politics are more akin to Richard Spencer. There’s also a bit of Trump thrown in with the “election theft” tease and shaky relationship to ATN, though Mencken is portrayed as more calculating, glibly charming, and a true believer of his extremist views.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- While just about everyone suspects him of harboring racist views, he's careful enough to use dog whistles for plausible deniability. In a private conversation with Roman, however, he makes it clear that he's a stringent white supremacist who views white people as the true heirs of the United States, whom should be catered to. Anyone else simply doesn't get a vote. Once he gives his Presidential victory speech, he further laces it in heinous, flagrant right-wing propaganda statements about things like Welfare, and he eerily proclaims a desire to take the country back to "cleaner" times.
- He is also implied to be misogynistic and condescends to Shiv about reading Plato. When discussing Shiv as US CEO with Matsson he makes this more explicit, referring to Shiv as “Kinder, Küche, Kirche;” which is not only a Nazi dog whistle (it existed prior to them but was a key part of their cultural propaganda) but also implies the traditional view that women belong in the home raising children, or at least in the church (i.e., virginal).
- President Evil: He's running for election and is a vile, alt-right nutjob with malicious designs against anyone he doesn't like. By the end of "America Decides", he seems to have won said election.
- Smug Snake: When he isn't sporting a self-satisfied grin, he's condescending to his peers. He also smugly fancies himself as an intellectual, name-dropping various philosophers (and a few quite controversial historical figures) he "borrows" from (yet he cannot/will not explain their philosophies).
Petkus
Ron Petkus
Portrayed By: Stephen Root
A major conservative political donor who organizes the Future Freedom Summit in Virginia.
- Dirty Old Man: He spends much of his screentime openly drooling over Willa like the repulsive lech he is.
Salgado
Rick Salgado
Portrayed By: Yul Vazquez
A Republican Congressman hoping to steer the party back towards traditional conservatism.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Like Marco Rubio, he’s a Republican presidential hopeful of Latino descent (Yul Vazquez is of Cuban descent, which is the same for Rubio). Shiv, much like real-life liberal Democrats, also views him as more palatable and reasonable compared to extreme right-wing figures such as Mencken.
- Token Good Teammate: Of all the presidential hopefuls the Roys meet, Salgado is the only one depicted as having thought out actual policy based on his own beliefs, as opposed to Boyer who just wants to slip into the top seat and Mencken, whose beliefs are genuine but who cares little for actual policy.
The Eavis Campaign
Gil
Gil Eavis
Portrayed By: Eric Bogosian
A Sandersesque presidential candidate whom Nate introduces to Shiv. He is vocally opposed to Waystar-Royco's attempted takeover of local news networks and becomes a target of their cable news network ATN because of it.
- Ambition Is Evil: He's at his least sympathetic when compromising his ideals, whether they're to get ATN to back off or when he's dazzled by the use of a private jet from a wealthy donor.
- Berserk Button: His recently deceased wife. Part of his campaign against the Roys, beyond idealogical, is ATN’s tendency to imply that he was responsible for her death.
- Cool Old Guy: An older politician who's sharp, energetic and is one of very few characters to openly wage war on Logan.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His wife committed suicide a year before the show begins, and he struggles to keep his composure when her death is brought up.
- Deal with the Devil: Shiv pushes him into making one with Logan, his greatest enemy. Logan holds off on his media campaign against Gil until the primaries, if Gil does not go after Logan. He later does go after Logan, but not in the way anyone expected: he chairs a hearing regarding abuses of power at Waystar-Royco.
- Hero Antagonist: He considers Logan Roy to be a major disease within the world, and as such, makes it his personal mission to take him down. This means he acts in an antagonistic role toward Logan and the Roy family in general, especially in Season 2 when Shiv leaves his service. Despite his faults, he is a genuinely moral man and it would most certainly be a good thing if he did manage to take down the toxic Roys.
- It's Personal: Kendall calls him out on his campaign against the Roy family having less to do with the incidents on the cruises and more to do with his ideological hatred of their news network as well as anger due how the network has tried to imply he was responsible for his wife's death.
- Nice to the Waiter: When a supporter approaches him in the street, Gil shakes his hand and attributes his political success to his supporters. Shiv assumes he was just playing the game and makes a joke about washing his hands, but it turns out Gil was being genuine, and he's offended by Shiv's joke.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a fairly transparent stand-in for Bernie Sanders: a Jewish Democratic senator who focuses on wealth inequality and has anti-capitalist, anti-monopoly views.
- Not So Above It All: Gil positions himself as a righteous force, and he does believe in his own ideals...but he's also prone to temptation when the chips are down. He makes a Deal with the Devil with Logan and later accepts the offer of a private jet from a donor despite the terrible optics.
Nate
Nate Sofrelli
Portrayed By: Ashley Zukerman
A political strategist and former romantic partner of Shiv's. He convinces her to work on the Eavis presidential campaign, reigniting their former affair.
- The Charmer: To a certain extent, but he's not quite the irresistable rogue he thinks he is. Shiv uses him for sex but never develops any genuine feelings for him.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: How he frames himself, though he comes off as off-putting and sleazy to most viewers.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Tells Tom he won the “Shiv-off”, and winds up embarrassed when Tom has no clue who he is. As a whole he views his affair with Shiv as being something deeper when really she's just using him for sex and political connections, and is left audibly on the verge of tears when she tells him as much in the penultimate episode of season 1.
- Nate seems a bit more understanding of his role in politics by Season 4, however. He leaves the Roy election party when it becomes clear his reputation might be on the line, doesn’t entertain much of the Roys’ transparent power plays, and bluntly tells Kendall that neither of them are as big/important as their mentors (Gil and Logan).
- Smug Snake: Nate isn't the charmer he thinks he is. Shiv might sleep with him, but she doesn't seem to have much in the way of respect for him and for all his certainty that he'll accompany Eavis to the White House, even Eavis himself doesn't consider him all that valuable as anything other than a loyal strategist. He crumbles when Tom kicks him out of the wedding.
- Straw Nihilist: Part of his faux-intellectual aura he plays, especially with Shiv. It’s part of his internal justification for why him carrying on an affair is okay.
