the.com/political machine

means A tightly organized political party or faction run by bosses who control votes and patronage through favors and loyalty rather than ideology.

from From 'machine' in its 19th-century sense of a well-oiled, impersonal system of interlocking parts — applied to politics because these organizations ran with mechanical reliability: precinct captains, ward bosses, and patronage jobs all meshing like gears to deliver votes on command. The phrase took hold in American cities in the 1800s, with outfits like New York's Tammany Hall becoming the textbook example of the 'machine' at work.