A Kennedy returns to the poll

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, is stepping off social media and into the political enviornment.

The 32-year-old introduced this week that he’s working for Congress in New York’s twelfth District—the seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler—becoming a member of what’s already shaping as much as be a crowded and intently watched main.

Rep. Jerry Nadler

Schlossberg’s entry into the race feels each inevitable and audacious. A descendant of America’s most storied political dynasty, he’s the nepo child of nepo infants—his final identify alone opens doorways few others might dream of.

However his bid additionally marks an try to increase his household’s legacy in electoral politics right into a radically completely different period, one outlined much less by polished stump speeches and extra by TikTok virality.

Till now, Schlossberg’s been greatest often called a social media provocateur with a style for high-profile political commentary. He’s used his on-line platforms to spar with conservatives, denounce Trump-era insurance policies, and even wade into household drama—most notably together with his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine-skeptical well being secretary serving underneath President Donald Trump.

“There is nothing our party can’t do to address costs of living, corruption, and the constitutional crisis that we’re in,” he advised the Instances. “But without the control of Congress, there’s almost nothing that we can do.”

“It’s certainly time for a new generation of Americans to step up and ask what they can do for their country,” he added on MSNBC, riffing on his grandfather’s most well-known line. “It shouldn’t just be about someone’s age. It should be about candidates—of any age—who understand policy and how to compete in this toxic political environment.”

Like many Democrats, Schlossberg argues that Trump’s insurance policies have fueled corruption, financial pressure, and constitutional crises. However in contrast to most of his would-be colleagues, he’s banking on his digital fluency as a promoting level.

“One thing we can do is elect candidates who know how to communicate and cut back in this toxic political environment,” he advised MSNBC. “New media is completely polluted, and the air is dirty. I figured out a way to breathe in that environment, and we need to elect candidates who understand how to do that.”

That digital savvy places him in the identical lane as one other rising New York Democrat: newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who energized younger progressives throughout town. 

Caroline Kennedy, former ambassador to Australia, and Schlossberg’s mom.

Each males are millennials, fluent within the rhythms of social media, and wanting to inject new power into a celebration nonetheless struggling to cross the torch. However the place Mamdani constructed his model as an rebel outsider, Schlossberg’s privilege is inconceivable to disregard.

His mom is Caroline Kennedy, the previous ambassador to Australia, and the most recent in an extended line of Kennedys to pursue public workplace. Since 1947, there have been solely two calendar years wherein a Kennedy didn’t maintain a federal submit, elected or appointed, based on The Washington Put up.

Schlossberg is leaning into the household legacy whereas additionally making an attempt to rebrand it for a extra chaotic age.

“If Zohran Mamdani and I have anything in common, it’s that we are both trying to be authentic versions of ourselves,” he advised the Instances. “The only race I know how to run is my own.”

Raised on Manhattan’s Higher East Facet, Schlossberg is working in one of many metropolis’s strongest and moneyed districts—stretching from Union Sq. to the highest of Central Park. 

Nadler’s retirement after three a long time in workplace left a vacuum that’s drawn a flurry of formidable Democrats, together with Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, Metropolis Council member Erik Bottcher, nonprofit founder Liam Elkind, and veteran journalist Jami Floyd.

For now, Schlossberg’s résumé is skinny. He held a short-term function on the State Division and briefly labored as a political correspondent for Vogue.com throughout the 2024 election. However he casts that as a bonus in a altering media and political ecosystem.

“I bring two years now of experience in a toxic and polluted media environment where, unlike a lot of people, I know how to breathe that air,” he advised the Instances.

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Whether or not voters see him as a contemporary voice or one other Kennedy buying and selling on nostalgia stays to be seen. Democrats are determined for brand new management, and Schlossberg—telegenic, well-connected, and untested—would possibly simply be the type of determine who forces the get together to confront what “new” truly means.

One other nepo child working for Congress might simply backfire. Or it could possibly be precisely what the Democratic Social gathering, adrift between generations, has been ready for.