The race for Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) congressional seat is running hot and heavy. This makes perfect sense if one looks at who’s running to replace him. Nadler has been representing New York’s 12th congressional district for 33 years. There are some signs that the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, will pick up where Nadler left off – but that’s hardly a certainty.
Schlossberg comes to the race with no experience in public office and sports a thin resume (both public and private). But he arrives with two key elements a political candidate needs: buckets full of money and name recognition.
It’s a curious race, to be sure. New York’s 12th is a tony district representing the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan, Chelsea, Gramercy, and Hell’s Kitchen. It also carries the distinction of having the largest Jewish population in a congressional district nationwide.
There is no shortage of candidates running for the congressional seat in the Democratic Party primary. They include Nadler’s hand-picked candidate, Micah Lasher, Upper East Side assemblyman Alex Bores, the TDS-stricken George Conway (now divorced from Kellyanne), and Jack Schlossberg, who is being characterized by the New York media as a “social media titan.” Republicans are roadkill in this dark blue district, so the congressional prize will likely be determined in the June 23 Democratic Party primary.
Unsurprisingly, there is not a lot of policy daylight between the candidates, so it’s becoming a bit of a beauty contest, and that is perhaps where a Kennedy shines best. According to the Daily News, citing John Mollenkopf, a City University of New York professor, “The guy has that Kennedy mystique. He’s handsome, he’s articulate and maybe that’s good enough.”
It was a bit surprising that The New York Times hit Schlossberg pretty hard this week in a lengthy article titled: “Inside Jack Schlossberg’s Chaotic Campaign to Revive Camelot.” The Times author, Nicholas Fandos, took aim at the “chaotic” campaign and the 33-year-old himself. He wrote about instances in which Schlossberg appeared mercurial and unfocused, even intimating that he was acting more like a spoiled socialite than a congressional candidate. The article claimed that Schlossberg took naps at inopportune times. It homed in on the high turnover rate of his campaign staff, which they characterized as churning “through staff at a head-turning pace.” Other criticisms include Schlossberg’s seemingly “erratic” behavior because he “… made a habit of disappearing for long stretches with little notice or explanation.”
The JFK Grandson Factor
The Kennedy family continues to be plagued by tragedy, even in the Schlossberg generation. Jack’s sister Tatiana passed away at the young age of 35 from Leukemia in 2025. He discussed this seismic event in his life on social media. He also used his platform as a direct descendant of JFK to mercilessly criticize his first cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The Daily Beast joined the chorus of detractors, saying “Schlossberg built an online following with vicious takedowns of his cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”
The race appears to be a tight one. The latest poll has Lasher up eight points on the rest of the Democratic field, with Schlossberg coming in second. However, the poll, conducted by Honan Strategy Group, only surveyed 300 likely primary voters. According to a Politico memo, “Public polling is scarce in the race, and internal polls from earlier this year didn’t show a clear frontrunner. Some had Schlossberg with a slight lead.” Still, 23% of those polled remain undecided.
Jack Schlossberg certainly comes to the public square with a few decidedly clear advantages – his heritage is one of them. But it remains uncertain whether he is heir to more than just money, or whether he carries the family mantle of someone who can run and win.
