(WASHINGTON) — Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, announced late Tuesday that he would run for Congress in 2026.
Schlossberg, 32, said he would seek a seat representing New York’s 12th congressional district, which is held by Rep. Jerry Nadler, who announced in September that he wouldn’t run for reelection.
Schlossberg positioned his run as a response in part to the economic agenda put forth by Republicans and President Donald Trump, including Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which Schlossberg said had led to a “cost of living crisis” with historic “cuts to social programs working families rely on. Health care, education, child care.”
“We deserve better, and we can do better, and it starts with the Democratic Party winning back control of the House of Representatives,” Schlossberg, whose full name is John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, said on Instagram as he announced his run.
He added, “With control of Congress, there’s nothing we can’t do. Without it, we’re helpless to a third term.”
The president in late October appeared to acknowledge that he cannot run for a third term, after previously declining to rule out the possibility.
The political heir, a Yale and Harvard alumnus who is running as a Democrat, in a press release also sought to burnish his status as a member of that party.
The release noted that he had “has spoken across the country as a surrogate for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” as well as speaking a the most recent Democratic National Convention.
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