Is Chelsea the latest Clinton with an eye on the White House?

She grew up in the uncomfortable spotlight of her father’s White House only to look on as her mother's ambition was crushed by Donald Trump. Even so, Chelsea Clinton does not appear to have given up on politics.

Rather than retreating from the public eye since her mother’s surprise electoral defeat last November, Miss Clinton has significantly raised her profile, prompting renewed speculation that she might one day run for office herself.

Despite her emphatic denials, the 37-year-old’s decision to give several high-profile interviews, pose for a magazine cover and write a book has only encouraged the chatter.

She has directly taken on Mr Trump and other members of his administration on Twitter, where she has 1.6 million followers – a useful powerbase were she ever to decide to become the latest player in the family’s political dynasty.

After Miss Clinton’s latest public appearance on Friday, giving a speech to a Variety magazine event in New York, another of the attendees, Gayle King, a television personality, gave a nod to the rumours. “I’ll resist the urge to say Chelsea 2024,” she said, referring to the next American election but one. “I won’t say it.”

Jon Karl, chief White House correspondent for ABC News, said the speculation began not long after the election but he has not heard “serious talk” about a run. “The Clintons have dominated Democratic party politics for so long and she’s the next Clinton that could run,” he said. “If she actually did run, she would have instant access to a fundraising network, there’s no question. She would have instant name recognition.

“But there’s obvious baggage that comes with all of that and Democrats are I think through with the idea of stepping aside for a Clinton.”

“Some people say she has political blood and she’d be a great future politician,” said Toluse Olorunnipa, who covers the White House for Bloomberg. “Then you have people still reeling from Hillary Clinton’s loss and the idea of another Clinton running for office is not something they’re very happy with at this point.”

Miss Clinton has regularly made headlines since the election. She publicly sparred with Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s former campaign manager, when Ms Conway referred to a massacre at Bowling Green, Kentucky, that had never taken place. “Please don’t make up attacks,” Miss Clinton tweeted.

And she joined in the opprobrium directed at Sean Spicer, Mr Trump’s press secretary, after he suggested that Hitler did not use chemical weapons. “I hope @PressSec takes time to visit @HolocaustMuseum,” she wrote.

Earlier this month, she posed for the front cover of Variety magazine. “I am not running for public office,” she told the magazine, but she added: “I think being a citizen isn’t just what happens when there’s an election… We know the majority of our country doesn’t support what’s happening. We need to make it clear that we’re not the silent majority.”

Next month, she will publish a children’s book – called She Persisted – about 13 American women who overcame adversity to make significant contributions to society.

Many are less than enthusiastic about any prospect of another Clinton in power. Vanity Fairthis week mocked Miss Clinton for writing about a letter she sent to President Reagan at the age of five, imploring him not to visit a cemetery where Nazis were buried. “President Reagan still went, but at least I had tried in my own small way,” she wrote.

Register Log in commenting policy