During his 1961 inaugural address, John F. Kennedy famously implored a new generation of Americans to serve their country. Almost 64 years later, Jack Schlossberg, his only grandson, is now heeding the call for generational change from Democratic voters as the party’s leaders continue to cling to office well into their 70s.
Schlossberg, 32, announced Wednesday morning in a video posted to social media that he’s running for the House seat of 78-year-old Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who is set to retire after 34 years representing the heart of Manhattan. The video was not cheeky, controversial and eyebrow raising as much of his content as “JackUno” often is.
Instead, Schlossberg notified his nearly 800,000 follower in a serious and earnest tone of his desire to represent his hometown district and fight against the Trump administration from within the halls of Congress.
“It’s certainly time for a new generation of Americans to step up and ask what they can do for their country,” Schlossberg said in an interview with MSNBC ahead of his announcement. “And I think that it shouldn’t just be about someone’s age. It should be specifically about young candidates — any age candidates — who understand policy and how to compete in this political environment, which is toxic.”
Like other Democrats, Schlossberg sees President Donald Trump’s policies and behavior as causing what he called corruption, affordability and constitutional crises. But unlike other elected Democrats and candidates, the New York City native is leaning into his influencer credentials to fuel his first run for elected office. He sees taking it to Trump on social media as not just clickbait but a necessity in an attention economy dominated by right-wing X posters, podcasters and YouTube influencers spreading the Trump gospel.
“One thing we can do is elect candidates who know how to communicate and cut back in this toxic political environment that we find ourselves in,” Schlossberg said. “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, and I think that’s what makes me an effective representative.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
Schlossberg isn’t shying away from the personal nature of the fight against Trump — who has sought to dismantle the Kennedy legacy — or against his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump appointed Health and Human Services secretary after a failed presidential run that was Camelot-coded.
Schlossberg’s online following ballooned last year, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, as he tried on various characters and presented his followers with accented impersonations. He was the first in his family to publicly criticize his cousin, and drew attention for trolling the now-HHS secretary and Trumpism.
Schlossberg also appeared as a surrogate on the 2024 campaign trail, spending the months ahead of the election traveling the country and making cameos in viral videos with elected officials in hopes of turning out young voters. Schlossberg’s “trolling for a cause” model, as he called it, recently has been embraced by high-profile Democrats such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and others who have started posting slightly unhinged or lacerating social media messages directed at Trump and MAGA world, oftentimes in all caps and with exaggerated punctuation.
“In the lead-up to the 2024 election, I saw a problem that I wanted to do something about, and that’s that the internet and new media is dominated by the right — and it has been for a decade,” said Schlossberg. “I want to offer a different perspective, an alternative perspective, and get the Democratic Party’s message out there to reach people. So I use my own creativity, a little bit of courage, to put my neck out there and speak up for what I believe in. And I learned a lot doing that.”
But Schlossberg’s in-real-life takeaway from his experience on the campaign trail wasn’t as sarcastic or mischievous, departing from his online brand.
“I learned that the Democratic Party is not dead or dying there,” he added. “I met thousands of people across the country. I went to almost every single swing state, and I met people, young and old, who are excited to join our cause and do whatever they can to stop this president from enacting his agenda.”
Schlossberg joins a growing primary field for Nadler’s heavily Democratic district in which a primary win is tantamount to victory. Micah Lasher, a New York state assembly member and Nadler protégé, jumped into the race in September, along with Liam Elkind, a 26-year-old nonprofit founder. Nadler told The New York Times last month that any endorsement of a successor “is way down the road.”
If elected, Schlossberg could serve in Congress while his cousin holds a Cabinet position. As HHS secretary, RFK Jr. has departed radically from his uncle’s Democratic legacy, slashing health research funding, laying off hundreds of federal workers, and weakening vaccine policy. Schlossberg argued that fighting the Trump administration is not just about his family’s legacy, but about the “generations of Americans and New Yorkers who fought and sacrificed to build this country.”
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
