One’s a Democrat and the other’s a Republican – and they’re twins. Here’s how they bridge the divide

Nick Roberts, left, and his twin brother, Nathan, pose for a photo at the Wheeler Mission Drumstick Dash in Indianapolis in 2023. (Courtesy Nick Roberts via CNN Newsource)

When Indiana state lawmakers were under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies to redistrict and create more GOP-friendly seats in Congress, Nick Roberts, an Indianapolis city-county councilor, was among a legion of Democrats who testified against it at the state capitol.

After his testimony last month, messages trickled in, and people were confused. Some thought they saw him advocating in favor of redistricting that day. Some thought his remarks must have been AI-generated.

Regardless of the reasons, Roberts knew what the confusion was all about. He had to get ahead of the issue.

“If you see somebody that looks like me at a Republican event, or definitely if they’re wearing a MAGA hat, it is not me, it is him,” Roberts explained in a video he posted on social media, saying he has a twin brother who’s also in politics, and who definitely isn’t a Democrat.

“While we disagree on a lot of things, he’s still my brother and I care about him,” he said.

His twin, Nathan Roberts, also testified that day, but in favor of redistricting, arguing voters had years to elect different leadership and refused to. Unlike his brother, Nathan forayed into the public policy space, creating the anti-mass migration nonprofit Save Heritage Indiana with Daniel Poynter, who founded Technology for Freedom, a tech firm that’s worked with conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.

“There’s nothing about illegal immigration at the state house. So, we created a nonprofit group based off of it because we thought there was a huge need,” Nathan told CNN.

They’ve centered their organization on this belief of preserving Indiana’s cultural heritage and ending mass migration to the state and have notched some top endorsements from state lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican.

Nick says he disagrees sharply with how his brother is tackling the immigration issue.

“I disagree with basically every single issue that my brother works on politically, the redistricting stuff, the immigration stuff, the education stuff. We disagree on 95 per cent of political issues,” he told CNN.

They’ve been like that since they were kids, with Nick branding himself as “the Democrat” in a middle school essay. Trump’s election got them more interested in politics, albeit with Nick jumping into the public sphere earlier, elected in 2023 as Indianapolis’ youngest city-county councilor at age 23.

Home life for the now-25-year-old twins in Indianapolis was a multigenerational melting pot of political perspectives from religious conservatives to progressive liberals.

They were raised by a mother just out of high school, a smattering of relatives and a disabled veteran father who was in and out of their lives. Nick credits his father’s hard work and his family’s small businesses with shaping his political beliefs.

After Nick’s video came out, Nathan woke up to a slew of journalists following him on X. He brushed it aside, carrying on with his morning until a friend sent a text saying they loved what Nick had posted.

“Oh God,” he thought before watching it, thinking it might be controversial. But after watching, he said, he thought it was fair.

But the brothers aren’t known for combative arguments that devolve into shouting matches. While some families may have a relative who no longer comes over due to estrangement over political disagreements, the twins have navigated their relationship despite their political disparities.

“I don’t think we’ve ever even had an argument on politics that even kind of reached the level of beginning to be a shouting match,” said Nathan.

‘Left wing, right wing, same bird’

In a time of increased political polarization, cordiality might seem rare, but the Roberts aren’t the only twins in politics on different sides of the aisle who still maintain a bond.

In 2018, twin sisters Monica Sparks, a Democrat, and Jessica Ann Tyson, a Republican, ran for county commissioner in different districts in Michigan and have kept a warm relationship.

Polarization has destroyed some family relationships, Sparks told CNN, but she emphasized Americans are all working and living together: “left wing, right wing, same bird.”

Said Tyson, “My sister and I, we don’t always see eye to eye, but we do make an investment in our relationship, because we’re sisters and we’re twins.”

Craig DeLuz, a Republican in California running for a US House seat in 2026, and David DeLuz, a Democrat and deputy director of the Office of Civil Rights at California’s transportation department, have championed their differences and talked about fostering healthy discourse online.

Nick and Nathan credited their easygoing nature as key to their civility, and they’ve found some common ground on a few things, namely a love of dogs and running in the annual Wheeler Mission Drumstick Dash in Indianapolis.

They were always stuck together in the same Advanced Placement classes and shared buddies in school. Their great-grandfather, Carl Brooks, who died in 2021, introduced them to maps, fostering a shared interest.

“He would show U.S. maps and everything, and we would sit on his lap looking through them. And now we both love maps still to this day, my brother and I do, even despite our disagreements,” said Nick.

Polarization’s rise in American discourse

But it can still be difficult to find consensus in a country where affective polarization – how much people of differing political parties dislike each other – has continued to dramatically reshape how Americans have discourse, where they get their information and whom they speak with.

Trump critics have looked at the president’s rise to power as exacerbating differences and increasing friction among Americans. But these fissures started well before Trump’s first victory in 2016, with historians citing the 1970s as the time when things started to become more polarized.

The Republican and Democratic parties have become more ideologically cohesive since then, sharpening political divide.

The rise of social media and 24/7 cable news, politics becoming core parts of identity, and economic inequality have all contributed to affective polarization, said Bill Doherty, cofounder of Braver Angels, a nonprofit focused on bipartisan political dialogue.

Navigating political divides in families

For those with differing political opinions, family gatherings may be times of stress, as debates over hot-button issues like abortion, gun control and immigration can devolve into shouting matches.

If a tough topic comes up as someone passes the mashed potatoes, there are ways to navigate these conversations.

Establishing a warm relationship with the other person and setting expectations for the conversation can reduce conflict in discussing shared political opinions, said Dr. Tania Israel, a psychologist who wrote two books on polarization and mental health. The goal should be understanding the other side, not actively challenging their views.

“You don’t want to challenge them because they’re not going to pay any attention to that when you don’t have that warm and trusting relationship with them,” said Israel.

Nick says he would agree.

“If we want to change hearts and minds, you don’t do it by 30 feet down and telling people how wrong they are. You have to do it through empathy,” he said.

Where these conversations take place is also important; dinner table discussions can seem more like a grandstanding debate performance rather than an opportunity for understanding and togetherness, said Israel. One-on-one time, such as a walk or coffee chat, establishes privacy, which can make it easier to focus on how to strengthen the relationship.

The Roberts twins already have that established relationship, and by listening and not letting things get too heated, they say they’ve been able to maintain a bond where fundamental political disagreements aren’t a relationship-ender – even if their political activities have made it hard to take photos together.

Also, a moratorium on politics during Thanksgiving helped.

“With me and my brother, we talk about politics between U.S. all the time, but at Thanksgiving, politics was not brought up one time,” said Nathan.

By Toni Odejimi, CNN