Elections and politics on Soaps

[ReddFoxx]

Since election day is near I thought this would be a fun topic. Which soaps have had political story lines or had main characters hold office? I know some, but I'm curious about others.

 

Y&R - Jack and Nikki ran for Wisconsin State Senate (which was a poorly written story line, IMO)

OLTL - Dorian and Viki were Mayor of Llanview. Dorian was a Senator.

DAYS - Abe was the Mayor of Salem

 

Primetime

Dynasty: Blake and Alexis ran against each other for Governor of Colorado

Falcon Crest: Chase ran for Board of Supervisors and beat Angela's candidate (the direction in the scene were the results come in and Angela is listening is stunning)

 

 

[Khan]

Wasn't there a storyline on LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING that drew on politics (candidates running for Senate), paternity secrets and (I think) secret tapes?

 

Also:

 

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[reallyhateskateonlost]

GH: Ned is Mayor of Port Chuckles.

 

[Khan]

 

That storyline displayed a clear lack of understanding of Nikki as a character.  Who in their right mind would think Nikki Newman becoming involved in politics is a GOOD idea?

[Gray Bunny]

If they're going to go there (politics), go all the way. The thing I find the most obnoxious is that they'll never specify which political party they're running under. Everything is so vague, just like soap businesses (save for Y&R who gets the corporate lingo down).  

 

GL's Jeffrey O'Neil and Blake Marler ran against each other for something around 2006. In the end, Blake was somehow in a coma for months but nobody in Springfield really cared because Liz Kiefer was only recurring at that point. Ugh, that show was so bad in its final years... 

[Faulkner]

I felt like LML thought Nikki wasn’t a respectable female character and tried to mold her into Hillary Rodham Clinton, hairstyle and all.

 

To her credit, I thought MTS did a decent job at it, even though it was out of left field.

 

 

[ReddFoxx]

That Opal campaign ad was hilarious, especially that song.

 

I do think that having Nikki run for office was not a good writing choice for that particular character. That would have been a better fit for someone like Jill who is more of a power character.

 

And I do agree that not mentioning anything about political party is ridiculous. All television shows do that and I don't like it.

[DramatistDreamer]

ATWT deciding to do a storyline on Tom Hughes' run for District Attorney, complete with a televised debate seemed, on its face, to be a strange choice because most people don't know who their D.A.s are.

 

What made this story so interesting was the storyline focused on managing the campaign from the inside.  I wish there were more episodes on You Tube because the way the story was told had an interesting dynamic. 

 

If you forget about the fact that the race was to elect District Attorney, the story itself was well written.

[Pine Charles]

I love what she says to the people:

''I love to see a short person with a dog.''

''Hey, sir.  You look Irish, but I'm not going to hold it against ya.''

''Hey there, big fella.  You're never gonna have to worry about your food stamps if you put me in office.''

''Hey, man.  I love chop suey!!''

[titan1978]

Greg Sumner was a Senator when he arrived on Knots Landing, and he eventually ran for Mayor or Governor (can’t remember which).

 

I think Karen would have made an excellent character to run for office.  It suited her.

[Scrapple]

Of course, there was "Capitol"...

[ReddFoxx]

How could I forget Capitol? That is the ultimate when it comes to soaps and politics.

[DramatistDreamer]

I didn't mention Capitol because I thought it was a given and we were discussing specific storylines on soap operas.  I guess I thought that Capitol was kind of a cheat since that was ostensibly what the entire series was supposed to have been about. 

And I repeat supposed to have been, lol.

[applcin]

GH - Luke became mayor of PC in the early 80s during the period Laura was presumed dead. They reunited in front of the mayor's mansion.

GL had Ross Marler running for the Senate.

One of Ryan's Hope's ongoing storylines since it debuted was Frank's political aspirations and campaigns.

[titan1978]

Wasn’t Lee Baldwin running against him?  And Scotty was doing some underhanded things for his father that Lee did not approve of?

 

Speaking of Scotty-  were there scenes between Scotty and Laura when she came back from the dead (Cassadine Island)?  I know they shared a couple when he interrupted their wedding before she left, and they had scenes together when L&L returned in the 1990’s.  I just don’t recall Scotty seeing her alive again.