Manhattan liberals could elect a Kennedy to Congress in Manhattan

NEW YORK – New York's 12th Congressional District encompasses the heart of Manhattan. There's the gayborhood-turned-tech haven of Chelsea, Times Square tourist traps and corporate headquarters, plus the posh Upper East and West Sides, home to the rich and famous.

So who could be a more fitting congressional representative for the liberal-leaning, affluent district than a Kennedy?

While some early polls showed Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, leading the crowded field to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, the race has become hotly competitive.

Ahead of the June 23 Democratic primary, which will determine the overwhelming favorite in the heavily Democratic district, Schlossberg is far from guaranteed his party's nomination, which once seemed like a foregone conclusion.

The candidate enjoyed early media hype and a nine-point lead in late February and early March, according to one survey commissioned by a Democratic opponent.

But that lead has slipped. A recent Emerson College Polling/PIX 11 survey, published May 21, showed state Assemblyman Micah Lasher with 22% support and Assemblyman Alex Bores, from the other side of Central Park, with 20% support. Schlossberg trailed in third with 11%, and George Conway, a "Never Trump" former Republican cable news commentator, had 10% support.

The race features nostalgia for JFK's short-lived "Camelot," but also the debates in current Democratic politics: how to combat the Trump administration's sweeping changes to the federal government, declining support for Israel and a fight for AI regulation.

"If Jack Schlossberg were not a Kennedy, we would not be talking about him, right?" Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist who supports Lasher, told USA TODAY. He said the district, which is among the wealthiest and most educated in the country, is likely to see through Schlossberg's thin resume.

"Where his votes go will decide who wins this race," Coffey said.

A new kind of Kennedy

Schlossberg, 33, is best known for being the tall, handsome son of former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy's only surviving child.

He gained a large social media following for odd antics, such as asking whether second lady Usha Vance was hotter than his grandmother, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Before that, he posted a video of himself riding on a RipStik reciting Lord Byron's lyric poem, "She walks in beauty." In another, he called his uncle Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s failed 2024 presidential campaign an "embarrassment." Kennedy is now the health and human services secretary in the Trump administration.

Like many in his family, Schlossberg boasts impressive academic credentials, including a degree from Harvard Law School. But his work experience is thin. In government, he worked in the State Department while his mother was an ambassador for a few months. He also held temporary jobs in Japan at Rakuten, the e-commerce company, and the Suntory distillery. He spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Schlossberg's campaign has leaned heavily on reviving his family legacy as a pillar of Democratic politics, with the slogan, "Believe in Something Again." But he's also pledged not to take PAC money, saying it inevitably compromises politicians. In addition, he has promised to provide tax deductions for renters.

Like many liberal Democrats, Schlossberg has opposed aid to Israel for military offensives. Bores and Lasher both support continued U.S. military aid to Israel in a district that has a large Jewish population. Schlossberg, who is half-Jewish, supports funding Israel's defensive Iron Dome system.

New York magazine reported on one of Schlossberg's campaign events, a March Madness watch party that skewed heavily female and younger.

Some prominent figures have donated to his campaign, including "Saturday Night Live" executive producer Lorne Michaels, the musician Paul Simon and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to election filings. He also received the endorsement of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the 86-year-old Democratic icon who met Schlossberg’s grandfather. 

But amid endorsements from public figures, Schlossberg has recently been the subject of critical media coverage from The New York Times that reported high turnover inside his campaign and allegations of erratic behavior.

Schlossberg’s campaign didn’t respond to USA TODAY's requests for interviews.

While in the past, Kennedys could cruise to victory in any Democratic primary in the Northeast, like Schlossberg's great-uncle Robert F. Kennedy in New York's 1964 Senate race, that may no longer be the case.

“It’s unclear if the Kennedy name will help much,” Basil Smikle, a Columbia University professor and former state Democratic Party executive director, said in an email, “and in some respects, the dynamics favor the two candidates who already represent the area: Bores and Lasher.”

Legislative power to fight Trump

If Schlossberg epitomizes the swashbuckling heir, Lasher is the archetypal normal politician whose opportunity he would usurp.

If endorsements mean anything anymore, Lasher would win by a large margin. In addition to Nadler, the 17-term congressman, Lasher is also endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former Gov. David Paterson and a long list of city and state Democratic officials.

Lasher worked as an aide to Nadler, a state legislative affairs director for Bloomberg’s City Hall and a policy director under Hochul, before he ran for Assembly in 2024. In March, Bloomberg, a billionaire who has spent heavily in local elections, funneled $5 million into the Stand for New York super PAC for the primary.

At a diner where Lasher entered shaking hands with patrons, he told USA TODAY that voters wanted someone they could trust to actually fight against President Donald Trump more than the Democratic Party has done in the past.

“I often say to voters that I meet that the Democratic Party needs to locate its spine, and I want to lead the search party,” Lasher, 44, said after eating breakfast. 

Lasher said he knows how to use legislative processes to make change, citing past work on public health, immigration and voting rights.

“I’m not a tech bro, and I’m not a TikTok influencer,” he said, in apparent reference to Bores and Schlossberg. “I am a legislative fighter, and that is the job that we are all running for.”

Lasher has put together a roadmap for Democrats called “Project 2026,” a nod to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” that offered priorities for the second Trump administration. "Project 2026" is a playbook for oversight and investigations Democrats could launch if they take control of the House. 

Meanwhile, he also said Democrats need an “affirmative agenda” for people to believe in, which he said must focus on economic concerns, including housing, childcare, health care, jobs and wages.

“Voters shouldn’t have to choose between experience and know-how and having a fighting spirit,” he said. “And with me, they don’t have to make that choice.”

AI arms race

In an interview with USA TODAY over coffee near Grand Central Terminal, Bores, 35, argued his tech industry experience makes him the best-qualified candidate. Bores touts his computer science degree, the first of any Democrat elected in the state Assembly. He worked at Palantir Technologies before having a fallout over its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“This is a race about who is best fit to serve the voters of this district going forward, not about who comes from the most storied family or the most storied political machine or whoever the establishment is going with,” Bores said. “It's about who can put a forward-looking vision.

His hallmark 2025 Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, which requires AI developers to create and publish safety protocols and allows civil action against developers who don't submit required reporting or make false statements, is among the strongest state-level regulations of artificial intelligence.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to override states' AI legislation to make sure the field would be "free to innovate without cumbersome regulation." 

A super PAC associated with OpenAI’s leaders pledged to spend millions on attack ads against Bores. Leading the Future, a super PAC funded by tech billionaire Trump donors Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and Greg Brockman, announced in November it would first target Bores.

The Public First super PAC associated with OpenAI rival Anthropic, which has appeared more supportive of regulation, has contributed heavily toward Bores.

“In a race where we’re all promising to fight Donald Trump,” Bores said, “I am the only one that Donald Trump’s mega-donors are spending millions of dollars against.”

Bores said he also sees AI’s local harms. The district has a high concentration of white-collar workers, many of whom are at risk of AI replacing many of their jobs, he said. 

Our Revolution, the progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, endorsed Bores. Joseph Geevarghese, who heads Our Revolution, said the race is a proxy war between different factions of the tech industry. Geevarghese said “big tech oligarchs” don’t want AI regulation and see Bores as a threat to implement consumer guardrails on an emerging industry.

“Ultimately, this is about the grassroots versus tech titans,” Geevarghese said. “The level of outside spending, especially from tech interests, speaks to why this is such a significant race. Again, this is an area that we don’t have a strong leader in Congress who has shown an ability to hold big tech accountable.”

'Never Trump' cable news stardom

Conway, a 62-year-old former Republican lawyer who gained notoriety on cable news and social media as a "Never Trump," entered the Manhattan race in January.

“I just feel that I haven’t done enough,” Conway, who was married to former senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway until 2023, previously told the New York political news outlet City & State. “And I think this particular moment, because so much is at stake, really requires people who are very laser-focused on fighting autocracy.”

His focus appears to have been on safeguarding democracy. His campaign website also said Trump has made Americans' lives worse, including with rising costs and health care because of cuts to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

Conway’s campaign didn’t respond to interview requests.

Now that he's moved into the mayor's official residence, state Board of Elections records show New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a Democratic voter in the district. However, he has yet to endorse anyone in the race.

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at [email protected] or on Signal at emcuevas.01.