Jack Schlossberg leverages TikTok fame for New York congressional campaign

Jack Schlossberg struck a serious tone in his campaign launch video this week, but his digital footprint tells a different story.

As former President John F. Kennedy’s only grandson, Schlossberg is practically political royalty. But to New York City’s chronically online electorate, he is better known as the star of hundreds of satirical, and often absurd, viral videos.

Sometimes he sings bizarre love songs to Second Lady Usha Vance or trolls her husband, Vice President JD Vance. As a surrogate for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, Schlossberg teamed up with Democratic candidates nationwide, including former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who lost to Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., last year.

Between satirical renditions of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and answering a lobster like a phone in a spoof news bit, Schlossberg has cultivated a following any aspiring influencer would envy, with close to 850,000 TikTok followers and nearly 770,000 on Instagram.

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“True or false: Usha Vance is way hotter than Jackie O,” Schlossberg said on X earlier this year, referencing his grandmother, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  

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He later described his own comments as “weird” and “creepy” on former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s podcast “The Blueprint.” 

“The internet is a place where it’s difficult to break through, and it’s difficult to break through if you are not saying something controversial or at least somehow unexpected,” Schlossberg explained. “I see that Democrats play that game not as well as we could, and I think I use my judgment to make posts that I think are funny or silly but have a purpose…”

Despite the followers and the Kennedy connections, Schlossberg has a slim résumé. He most recently served as a political correspondent for Vogue during the 2024 presidential election.

He was also a Democratic National Committee delegate in 2024 and worked as a staff assistant at the U.S. Department of State in 2016. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law and Business Schools.

According to his LinkedIn, Schlossberg has worked for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for 12 years, first as chair of the New Frontier Award, and now as chair of the Profiles in Courage Award.

Schlossberg is the son of former U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy.

Schlossberg honored former Vice President Mike Pence with the Profiles in Courage Award earlier this year for defying President Donald Trump’s request to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The 32-year-old Kennedy heir is a frequent Trump critic. And while he often experiments with accents in his online skits, Schlossberg did not mince words about the president in his campaign launch video.

In the vertical walk-and-talk style video, Schlossberg clipped a mini microphone to his crisp, blue button-down shirt and accused Trump of turning his second term into “cronyism, not capitalism, and a constitutional crisis with one dangerous man in control of all three branches of government.”

Earlier this year, fellow New Yorker Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appointed Schlossberg to the America 250 Commission, claiming there was “no better person to push back” on Trump’s “ego” dominating the celebrations.

Schlossberg has also been a vocal critic of his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran a failed presidential campaign last year before endorsing Trump and securing a cabinet position as secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Schlossberg accused Trump of dismantling the Kennedy legacy and called RFK Jr. a “dangerous person” on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday.

While it’s clear that Schlossberg rejects Trump, his campaign priorities are not so obvious.

In his campaign launch video, Schlossberg said he is running to replace the retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., because New York’s 12th Congressional District “should have a representative who can harness the creativity, energy and drive” of the city and translate it into “political power and drive in Washington.”

His campaign website includes a short biography and donation links, but no policy proposals, only a list of “12 promises” to the district’s residents.

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“I’m a big believer that if you don’t have something else to say in the race, you shouldn’t really jump in,” Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff, a 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign alum, told Fox News Digital. “It’s unclear because he doesn’t have that policy page.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Schlossberg for comment but did not immediately receive a response.