Kennedy Grandson Jack Schlossberg Falls Short in New York Primary Race

The Kennedy political legacy hit a speed bump on Tuesday, June 23, when Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, finished third in the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th Congressional District. The 33-year-old had hoped to carry his family’s storied tradition into Congress, but voters had other plans.

Schlossberg entered the race against a crowded field of Democrats: state Assemblyman Micah Lasher, state Assemblyman Alex Bores, lawyer George Conway, and public health researcher Nina Schwalbe. When the votes were counted, Lasher claimed the nomination and will represent the party in November’s general election. It wasn’t the outcome Schlossberg had banked on when he announced his campaign back in November 2025.

The path to election day was complicated by personal tragedy. Shortly after launching his bid, Schlossberg’s sister, Tatiana Schlossberg, died at age 35 following a battle with leukemia. He returned to campaigning after mourning her loss, carrying her final words with him:“You better win,”she’d told him. He shared that moment publicly during a March appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, framing the race as something larger than himself.

But the campaign itself became tabloid fodder. The New York Times reported in May that Schlossberg’s operation was“chaotic”and“erratic,”citing high staff turnover, unexplained absences, and a notably rocky launch day where he reportedly took a nap and disappeared for hours. The coverage stung. Schlossberg pushed back in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, defending his management style as“nimble and small”and dismissing the article as typical frontrunner noise.“There’s a lot in that article that’s not true,”he said, but the damage had been done.

On election night, before results were finalized, Schlossberg addressed supporters with a forward-looking message about fighting corruption and bringing fresh faces to Democratic politics.“We don’t just need younger candidates. We need different people,”he said, according to the Associated Press. It was a graceful exit—one that reframed the loss as a broader critique of the political establishment rather than a personal defeat. Whether that framing resonates beyond Tuesday remains an open question.