History Characters / ThePolitician

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Gains this during her gubernatorial campaign in season two, despite some quite frankly odd platform choices.

* ChristmasCake: Begins Season 2 as this, over fifty and single.

!!! '''Played By:''' [=Creator/DylanMcDermott=]

* IllGirl: She is suffering from cancer. [[spoiler:So everyone thinks.]]

* BaldWoman: Not a sci-fi version. Infinity has no hair due to her illness, [[spoiler:or so it appears. It is actually shaved by Dusty.]]

The protagonist of the series, an ambitious high school student adopted into a rich family. He aspires to become President of the United States and runs for student body president in order to achieve this goal. In Season 2, he is running for State Senate.

* AcademicAlphaBitch: A rare male example.

* TheAlcoholic: Payton develops this after the TimeSkip and his BreakTheHaughty moment (see below).

* HappilyAdopted: Downplayed. He's ostracized by his older brothers and initially is TheUnfavorite to his father. His mother, however, loves him and Payton has no desire to look for his birth mother.

* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Has a sharp looking pair.

* BaldWoman: Not a sci-fi version. Infinity has no hair due to her illness, [[spoiler:it appears. It is actually shaved by Dusty.]]

* GenkiGirl

* AlphaBitch: Astrid is this in spades.

* [[SonOfAWhore Daughter Of A Whore]]: Her mother is a former escort.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[spoiler:Averted. She has one, since she knows she doesn't want kids, and no one shames her for it. Alice even goes with her to support her emotionally.]]

* TheRival: To Payton.

One of the members of Payton's political team, a childhood friend of Payton and James.

* BrainyBrunette

* DeadpanSnarker: In spades.

* UndyingLoyalty: To Payton.

Payton's best friend, and another member of his political team.

* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: [[spoiler: He pulls this on Payton after the latter finds out about his affair with Alice.]] Subverted when it's revealed this was all an elaborate BatmanGambit to damage Astrid's campaign.

* HateSink: She's a elitist, homophobic RichBitch [[spoiler: who killed her daughter and poisoned her granddaughter into illness.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: It's clear that Georgina is closer to Payton than to Martin and Luther - the both of whom she calls "borderline psychopathic".
** She herself says her love for Payton 'goes on and on' while her love for the twins 'has edges'.

* StacysMom: She is a mother of three and stunningly beautiful, leaving some students tongue tied.
* TrophyWife: She's this to Keaton.
* WickedStepmother: Inverted. She love Payton (her adopted son) more than she does her own biological children, and Payton himself says his relationship with her is one of the main reasons he never sought out his real mother, as that role was fufilled.

* {{Polyamory}}: Is in a throuple (a three way relationship) with her husband and a lover, William, where all three love each other equally.

* MayDecemberRomance: Downplayed. He's decades older than his wife, though the romance part has long died out (if there was ever any romance to begin with, that is).[[note]]Bob Balaban is 27 years older than Gwyneth Paltrow in real life.[[/note]]

* {{Transgender}}: James is a trans man according to WordOfGod. It is never addressed, and purposefully not made to be a big deal.

!!! '''Played By:''' David Corenswet

!!! '''Played By:''' Julia Schalepfer

!!! '''Played By:''' Laura Dreyfuss

!!! '''Played By:''' Theo Germaine

!!! '''Played By:''' Rahne Jones

!!! '''Played By:''' Benjamin Barrett

!!! '''Played by:''' Bette Midler

!!! '''Played By:''' Ryan J. Haddad

!!! '''Played By:''' Trevor Mahlon Eason

!!! '''Played By:''' Trey Eason

!!! '''Played By:''' Martina Navratilova

!!! '''Played By:'''Joe Morton

!!! '''Played by:''' Judith Light

!!! '''Played By:''' Teddy Sears

* {{Adorkable}}: Has his moments.

* {{Adorkable}}: Infinity has this in spades.

* YourCheatingHeart: She fakes doing this to Payton in order to get him sympathy points during the presidential election. [[spoiler: Except she ''isn't'' fake-cheating on him - she's been sleeping with James for several months.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Slept with Astrid multiple times when the two were in New York.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: She cheats on her husband numerous times.

* SecondYearProtagonist: Averted, he's explicitly in his senior year of high school in season 1.

* NoLastNameGiven: We don't know if his surname is Standish, or if Dede is using her maiden name professionally

Dede Standish's husband, and one third of her throuple.

* {{Polyamory}}: With Dede, and initially William

* JourneyToFindOneself: Found working on a lobster boat after his breakup with Dede and Marcus.
* {{Polyamory}}: Begins season two as the third part of Dede Standish's throuple.

[[folder: Marcus]]

[[folder: William]]

[[caption-width-right:234:"You're the pilot. James and I are your navigators.]]

* Transgender: James is a trans man according to WordOfGod. It is never addressed, and purposefully not made to be a big deal.

* BadBadActing: His audition for the school musical, ''Assassins''.
* CrazyJealousGuy: He is obsessed with Infinity ([[YourCheatingHeart though he does cheat on her with Astrid at one point]]) and his [[spoiler: attempted assassination of Payton]] is based in this trope.
* TheDitz: Ricardo isn't the smartest tool in the shed. He admits this in "Gone Girl".

** First he shows immediate familiarity with Sondheim's ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'' when Infinity tells him about her casting. Then he auditions himself and treats it as SeriousBusiness

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: Ricardo's attempt to get back at Astrid for destroying his relationship with Infinity leads to Astrid and him running off to New York in the middle of the presidential election which then leads to Astrid falling behind in the polls.]]

* BigBadEnsemble: She serves as this for Payton in S1 along with Astrid and is by far the evilest character on the show.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The restaurant scene in episode 1 has her using her granddaughter's disability in order to draw sympathy in order to get a table.
* EvilMatriarch: Of the Jackson family. [[spoiler: She poisoned Infinity and likely killed Infinity's mother (''her own daughter'').]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Dusty originally appears like an old-fashioned SouthernBelle who cares for her granddaughter. However, as the first season unfolds, the viewers learn that [[spoiler: she has been poisoning Infinity to keep her at arm's length (while passing it off as cancer) and killed her own daughter by slowly poisoning her into kidney failure because she didn't want to leave either. Additionally, she's homophobic and attempts to have Payton assassinated.]]

* ManipulativeBitch: Dusty [[spoiler: likely caused her daughter's death from kidney failure by feeding her lead paint chips, caused her granddaughter to fall ill, and attempts to have Payton killed.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: In the series trailer, she describes gay people as only "munching on butts and celebrating Halloween".
* RichBitch: Dusty is rude and self-centered and also wealthy.
* SouthernBelle: What she passes herself as.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: [[spoiler: When Infinity accuses her of poisoning her late mother, Dusty says this: "What are you saying? That I went down into the basement and peeled paint chips off the wall and fed them to your mother?" But she denies doing the poisoning.]]

* JourneyToFindOneself: [[spoiler: She's leaves for one in the penultimate episode of season 1. Last heard, she's in the Bhutanese Himalayas.]]

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: She probably won't come back from her soul-searching odyssey for at least a little bit.]]

* TrophyWife: She's this to her husband Keaton.

Incumbent State Senator for New York, and Payton’s political rival for season two.

* CoolOldLady: Dede is an older woman (presumably close to her actress's age who is at the moment in her seventies) who has tirelessly worked for the state of New York, accomplished real, lasting change in the state's infrastructure and fought for progressive liberal rights for over three decades.

** To Astrid from season one. Both are popular candidates whose path pits them against Payton and co. Both are ruthless competitors who will look for the way to win. Where Astrid [[spoiler: withdrew to delegitimise and demoralise Payton’s win]] Dede [[spoiler: does so out of what appears to be interest in what’s best for her constituency]].
** Her own relationship is this to Payton’s with Alice and [[spoiler: Astrid]]. Where her relationship with her husband and their lover is borne from love and genuine care, Payton’s relationship with Alice and [[spoiler: Astrid]] is all about power, control and mistrust. [[spoiler: At the end of the second season however their relationships flip in opposite directions: Payton learns to respect Alice and support her as much she does him, starting a family with her while she attends medical school. Dede on the other hand discovers her husband Marcus was involved in an illegal scheme where he ghost-writes papers for his university students and their relationship falls apart]].

* {{Polyamory}}: Is in a throuple (a three way relationship) with her husband and a lover, where all three love each other equally.

* WorthyOpponent: Dede at first despises Payton Hobart and sees him as nothing more as a conniving, impertinent fetus who would lie and cheat his way to victory. As the election progresses, they come to see each other's value and end up as respectful rivals, [[spoiler: which is enough to convince her to concede the state senate election to Payton]].

The chief of Dede Standish's campaign staff and her second-in-command.

* BecomingTheMask: Hadassah at first pretends to be [[TheBeard William's secret lover]] to deflect any potential rumors about Dede's polyamory, [[spoiler: but they both become genuinely attracted to one another, so much so William dumps both Dede and Marcus to be with her]].

* ChristmasCake: Begins season two as this, over fifty and single.
* MarriedToTheJob: Referenced when mentioning to Dede she's never had a stable love life, her love is being Dede's Chief of Staff
* NumberTwo: Hadassah is this to Dede.

* BecomingTheMask: When forced to pretend to be secret lovers with Hadassah, ends up falling in love.

* YourCheatingHeart: Leaves the throuple after falling for Hadassah

The protagonist of the series, an ambitious high school student who aspires to become president of the United States today and decides to run for student body president in order to achieve this goal.

* TheAlcoholic: Payton develops this [[spoiler: after the TimeSkip and his BreakTheHaughty moment (see below).]]

* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Throughout the season, Payton goes from a viable presidential candidate to the student body president to a disgraced president who loses his position after his supposed involvement in an attempted murder comes out. He also nearly dies from sepsis as the result of a shooting (from a BB gun), gets cut out of his adoptive father's will (along with his mother), loses his Harvard admittance, leaves school, and moves to New York, broken and alone. While in New York, Payton develops alcoholism as a coping mechanism.]]

* DisqualificationInducedVictory: [[spoiler: Well technically Astrid withdrew but Payton became the student body president regardless. He's ambivalent about this method of victory, however.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Massively for [[spoiler: 3 years following his resignation.]]
* HesBack: In the last moments of S1 after his friends tells him YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre and he [[spoiler: declares his campaign for State Senate]].
* IAmWhatIAm: [[spoiler:A large part of his arc is him grappling with his own moral failings, and eventually deciding to accept himself for what he is: a not-good person who aspires to greatness.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: He is his mother's favourite son, much to his brother's chagrin.

Originally Payton's initial running mate, who suffers from cancer.

* AbusiveParents: More like Abusive Grandparents and PlayedForLaughs. It seems like Dusty is just milking her for her cancer at first – getting free things like front-row tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert because of it, [[spoiler: but it turns out Dusty has actually been making her deathly ill this entire time – Infinity has no traces of cancer whatsoever. All of the chemo and injections were actually toxins. Still PlayedForLaughs for the most part.]]

* BaldWoman: Not a sci-fi version. Infinity has no hair due to her illness [[spoiler:but actually shaved by her grandmother.]]

* IllGirl: She is suffering from cancer. [[spoiler: Except she really isn't.]]

* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler: Andrew tells Payton that she doesn't really have cancer, which is confirmed at the end of episode 2. Played with in that Infinity didn't know, and is horrified when she finds out.]]

Payton's rival, River's girlfriend.

* BigBadEnsemble: She's Payton's main opponent in S1 along with Dusty. Though she pulls a HazyFeelTurn in the back half of the season and becomes less interested in the race meanwhile Dusty proves a much more despicable character.

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler: Or rather, her disappearance. She briefly runs away to New York with the help of Ricardo]].

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: The first season finale has her work with Payton in his campaign to challenge the State Senate Majority Leader of New York for her seat.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Season two sees her turn on Payton [[spoiler: and begin passing information about his campaign to Senator Standish]] until she later returns to his side, only to later [[spoiler: threaten to use her pregnancy to derail his career, and convince Alice to leave him to run away. She later gets an abortion and returns to Payton and co with Alice in tow.]]

* LonelyRichKid: Astrid despises her life and doesn't have many friends. [[spoiler: This leads to her faking her disappearance in order to skip out of town to stay in New York for several days.]]
* ManipulativeBitch: Astrid isn't above using devious means to try and win the election.

* PreppyName: Astrid Sloan.

Astrid's boyfriend, Payton's tutor and ex-lover

* AmbiguousDisorder: [[spoiler: River felt down about his life and many of his good moments were outweighed by the bad, which somewhat implies depression. However, much of these details come from Payton's coma dream, so it's dubious whether this is true or that's what Payton believes River's mental state was when he shot himself.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: River fatally shoots himself in front of Payton, and attempted suicide unsuccessfully a year prior to this.

* TheLostLenore: No matter what Payton says about not having had romantic feelings for him (which both most of the other characters and the audience regard as utter bullshit), it's obvious that losing River was deeply traumatic for him, and he still feels his presence years later. He's also this to Astrid, though her grief isn't as explored.
* NiceGuy: River is generally a kindhearted guy.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: Somewhat. His girlfriend Astrid replaces him as Payton's rival in the student body president election in order to memorialize River. His ghost appears to Payton periodically after episode 1.

* WalkingSpoiler: It's kind of hard to describe parts of the show without mentioning that River dies by suicide halfway through the pilot episode.

Payton's girlfriend [[spoiler: later wife]], member of his political team.

* RunawayBride: When Alice learns that Payton is running for New York State Senate, she runs away from the altar to look for him.
* TheStoic: Generally Alice doesn't show a lot of emotions. She even manages to pass a polygraph test by staying stoic.

* TrophyWife: Initially dreams of being this to Payton. [[spoiler:She has a breakdown in the second season that gets resolved when she realizes she ''can't'' be this, and decides to go to medical school. Payton's wholly supportive.]]

One of the members of Payton's political team.

* AmbiguouslyGay: She expresses no interest in guys. In episode 4, it's revealed that [[spoiler: [=McAfee=] is having an affair with Skye, though that alone doesn't confirm her sexuality as of yet.]]
** [[spoiler: In Season 2, it is shown that in college, she dated and slept with both men and women, likely making her bisexual. She even gets the show's most explicit sex scene, with a man she met on Tinder, in this season.]]
* BrainyBrunette: Has brown hair that borders on being dark blonde and is one of the most intelligent characters in the series.
* {{Cincinnatus}}: She's offered [[spoiler: the vice-presidency by Skye but refuses and turns her in, as she still believes in Payton.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: [=McAfee=] has this in shades.
* LadyInAPowerSuit: Almost all of [=McAfee=]'s clothes are trouser suits, but she also fits the character archetype to a tee, being a largely calm, aloof woman/teenage girl.

* LipstickLesbian: Quite possibly.

* TwoFirstNames: Inverted, both her first and last name are traditionally surnames as {{lampshaded}} by Music/BetteMidler.

Another member of Payton's political team.

* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch:
** [[spoiler: He pulls this on Payton after the latter finds out about his affair with Alice.]]
*** Subverted when it's revealed this [[spoiler: was all an elaborate BatmanGambit to damage Astrid's campaign that Payton was in on.]]
** Does this again in season two when Payton isn't willing to get his hands dirty by releasing juicy information that could destroy the opposition.
* CampStraight: He has a somewhat effeminate style of speaking and dress however he turns out to be straight when it's revealed he's been [[spoiler: sleeping with Alice.]]

* IToldYouSo: To Payton after the fallout from [[spoiler: fake cancer-gate. Not that he's particularly happy about it.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Pulls this after Payton is forced to resign as student body president. But he does become roommates with Payton after the TimeSkip.]]

* SourSupporter

River [[spoiler: and later Astrid's]] running mate, a gender-nonconforming student.

* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Skye is identified as gender non-conforming, but others frequently refer to Skye by she/her pronouns without any objections from them.

* BrutalHonesty: As they mention in their first scene (and demonstrated in later episodes), Skye isn't afraid to give their honest opinion, not matter how blunt it is.
* ButchLesbian: Skye's dress style leans towards this, and they are a lesbian.

* TheDragon: As Astrid's running mate
** DragonAscendant: [[spoiler: First when they take Astrid's spot at the top of the ticket after her elopement. Second when she succeeds Payton after his resignation. Neither last long.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: They go from being against Payton (even calling him a sociopath) to being a friend of his [[spoiler: after several-months-in-jail-and-a-TimeSkip-later]].

* HyperCompetentSideKick: They're much better at playing the political game than Astrid and is quite frustrated by this.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Yes, Skye can be sharp in their opinions and isn't afraid to call out people for their behavior but they try to help the marginalized students of their school by being part of the school election.
* SixthRanger: Joins Team Payton after jumping ship from Astrid's failing campaign. [[spoiler: She [[SixthRangerTraitor betrays them]] not long after by trying to kill Payton but in the S1 finale she is EasilyForgiven and joins the team for good.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: Skye is a lot kinder in the season 1 finale than in previous episodes. [[spoiler: Of course, the TimeSkip may have something to do with that.]]

Infinity's boyfriend.

* BadBadActing: His audition in "The Assassination of Payton Hobart, Part 1".