Jack Schlossberg leverages TikTok fame for his 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 the only grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, Schlossberg is practically political royalty. But to New York’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 has teamed up with Democratic candidates across the country, including former Sen. Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, 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 telephone in a news parody, Schlossberg has cultivated a following that any aspiring influencer would envy, with nearly 850,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 770,000 on Instagram.

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Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, takes a photo as U.S. President Joe Biden leaves for Michigan from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, September 6, 2024. (Reuters/Annabelle Gordon)

“True or false: Usha Vance is way hotter than Jackie O,” Schlossberg said on X earlier this year, referring to her grandmother, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

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He later described his own comments as “bizarre” and “scary” on former White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s podcast “The Blueprint.”

“The Internet is a hard place to break through, and it’s hard to break through unless you say something controversial or at least unexpected,” Schlossberg explained. “I see that Democrats aren’t playing this game as well as we could, and I think I’m using my judgment to post things that I think are funny or silly but have a purpose…”

Despite his supporters and connections to Kennedy, Schlossberg has a thin resume. He most recently served as a political correspondent for Vogue during the 2024 presidential election.

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

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, speaks during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, August 20, 2024. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

According to his LinkedIn, Schlossberg 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 US 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 demand 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 didn’t mince his words about the president in his campaign launch video.

In the vertical walk-and-talk style video, Schlossberg attached 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 a dangerous man in charge of all three branches of government.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, second from right, stands with his wife, Karen Pence, far right, as he receives the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from Jack Schlossberg and his mother, Caroline Kennedy, during a ceremony at the JFK Library, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Boston. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

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

Schlossberg also sharply criticized his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran a failed presidential campaign last year before supporting Trump and getting a job as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Schlossberg accused Trump of dismantling Kennedy’s 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 aren’t so obvious.

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, speaks during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 20, 2024. (Reuters)

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

His campaign website includes a short biography and links to donations, but no policy proposals, just a list of “12 promises” to neighborhood residents.

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“I’m convinced that if you don’t have anything else to say in the race, you shouldn’t really get into it,” Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff, an alumnus of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, told Fox News Digital. “It’s not clear because he doesn’t have this political page.”

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