With the Camelot legacy behind him, it makes sense that Jack Schlossberg — the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy — is running for political office, just like so many of his family before him.
But the 33-year-old, who is running for Congress to represent Manhattan’s 12th district, is weighed down by his history of controversial online antics, a lackluster job history and a platform that, so far, has few specifics.
Schlossberg has got a lot of attention for being a firebrand on social media, and when he met with The Post this week, he returned to a frequent target who is very close to him, in Secretary of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose views on science and vaccines he is against.
“I wish he hadn’t been doing what he’s doing,” said Schlossberg, referring to RFK Jr. “Nobody wants to be the one who’s fighting with your family in public.”
He told The Post his mother, US ambassador Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, was reluctant to speak out against their cousin when she issued a public letter to Senators, calling Kennedy Jr. “a predator” with “dangerous views” on the eve of his confirmation hearings for the cabinet-level post last year.
“My mother didn’t want to put the letter up,” he said, adding that he posted the letter on his social media platforms.
“She wishes that it wasn’t happening but it wasn’t her choice. We were pushed into the pool and we didn’t want anyone to be confused about what we believe and what President’s Kennedy’s support would be and how dangerous it was to our future.”
The Trump administration is another of Schlosberg’s frequent targets, which he also credits as a source of his popularity, having amassed 874,000 followers on Instagram.
“Social media is an amazing way to build trust and people who come up to me, who know my Instagram, often thank me. At first I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“Especially at the beginning of the Trump administration … There weren’t that many people challenging, and so they associate me with somebody who’s willing to say things.”
Some of his more bizarre online posts have included donning a wig to mock First Lady Melania Trump and making a post where he claimed he and Second Lady Usha Vance were “having a baby,” and “might get married,” with a picture of her holding a child with his face photoshopped onto it.
Trolling RFK Jr., Schlossberg previously wrote a recipe for a Make America Healthy Again
“energy ball” cocktail, which he claimed should include: “2 oz of Jew blood (ashkenazi not Sephardic). 4 cups of male j–z. Baked at 300 degrees until totally dry like your wife,” referring to actress Cheryl Hines.
Since announcing his campaign, Schlossberg has adopted a more corporate demeanor and was dressed in a black overcoat and crisp white shirt when he met The Post.
He proudly states he’s his own campaign manager and that he’s been doing almost everything in the “Jack for New York” campaign himself. This is not exactly true. Annabel Lassally, a former special assistant to New York Governor Kathy Hochul left the leadership of the campaign in December, after two months on the job. Lassally did not return a request for comment.
Schlossberg has a law degree and MBA from Harvard, but his opponents have criticized an apparent lack of real-world work experience, accusing him of trading on his family history.
“Jack has no clue why he’s running, so it stands to reason no one else does either,” said a Democratic strategist for one of his opponents. “His campaign’s most substantial document is his birth certificate.”
Schlossberg dismisses the criticisms, saying: “I have work experience and I really enjoy the criticism that I’ve never had a job, especially when it’s coming from other opponents who have hired fancy consulting firms to do their social media.”
He added he has worked for the State Department in the past at the Bureau of Oceans and Environment.
On his rather short resume, he also listed himself in his 2025 congressional disclosure as correspondent for Vogue magazine. However, a representative told The Post Schlossberg “was Vogue’s election correspondent through the 2024 election, so he did not work with us in 2025.”
He also claimed he worked for, then quit, ex-President Joe Biden’s re-election social media team in 2023.
“I said, ‘I have an instinct about how Democrats need to communicate.’ They said ‘no’ to every idea I had. I quit, and started making my own videos.”
A senior Biden campaign official told The Post Schlossberg never worked in any official capacity for them, although he interviewed at several different departments, including social media.
And, to his detractors’ point, as hands-on as Schlossberg may be with his campaign, he’s decidedly hands-off when it comes to earning cash.
In his financial disclosures, revealed this week, Schlossberg listed no earned income in 2025. He does, however, have four family trusts, which suggest he is worth between just under $11 million and nearly $32 million.
Schlossberg claims his man-of-the-people image is bolstered by his donations, adding: “We are creating a new way of doing things … You see it in the numbers. Our fundraising average donation is under 40 bucks. I think we’re up to 45,000 individual contributions.”
While that may be the case, the duality of being a grassroots fundraiser and the scion of a political dynasty is on full display in Schlossberg’s backers.
Many of the big money individual donations come from wealthy family friends and celebrities. Musician Paul Simon donated $7,000, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels gave $3,500, cookbook author Ina Garten gave $2,000 and fashion designer Lisa Perry gave $3,500 to Jack for New York, among many other bold face names.
Donors can contribute a maximum of $3,500 to the primary race, which takes place in June, and another $3,500 for the general election in November, according to FEC rules.
Thousands more came from his parents and extended family, including aunt Vicki Kennedy who pledged $7,000, cousin Kerry Kennedy who gave $500, and older sister Tatiana, 35, who contributed $5,000 before her death from a rare form of leukemia in December.
“She [Tatiana] was really excited about the campaign,” said Schlossberg, adding that his whole family is rooting for him. “I think it’s been a lot of fun for my family to have something to cheer for, and become invested in when experiencing loss.”
Contributions to Schlossberg’s campaign currently total nearly $2 million, according to a campaign volunteer, although those numbers are not yet reflected on the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) web site — which lists his campaign’s totals at $1.1 million.
Schlossberg also has the endorsement of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He told The Post she only agreed to back him after an hourlong “interview” in which she asked him all about why he wanted to run.
However, other sources in the Democratic party claimed they thought San Francisco-based Pelosi’s real reason for backing Schlossberg was to get back at 17-term Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who announced his retirement last year. He has handpicked Micah Lasher to be his successor in the sprawling 12th district, which Schlossberg is also competing for.
The district encompasses Midtown, Gramercy Park, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, the Upper East Side and Upper West Side as well as Roosevelt Island, and the democratic primary faces a crowded field, with 13 candidates.
Schlossberg certainly has an advantage over his opponents when it comes to online visibility, with the next most popular candidate, Lasher, having just 7,200 followers on Instagram.
During The Post’s visit Schlossberg towered over many New York City Housing Authority residents he was visiting in Chelsea, many of whom vied for his attention.
In order to help residents, Schlossberg unveiled his “Fix-It Now” initiative, with volunteers urging tenants to add their names to a form with a description of what they needed repairing in their units.
“His last name isn’t Kennedy and he doesn’t have the experience,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a political strategist. “His appeal might be glamor and the politics of the past, but in the harsh world of New York City politics, that’s not going to work.”
