The Cuomo camp is denying reports that the former New York governor and failed mayoral candidate, Andrew Cuomo, is eying a run for Representative Jerry Nadler’s soon-to-be-vacant seat in Congress — but another political scion is likely to jump in the race this week.
President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, set up an exploratory committee in September and is expected to announce his congressional run as soon as this week. “It’s happening,” a source told Politico, adding that the 32-year-old Mr. Schlossberg has already hired staff and is consulting with Democratic leaders.
Speculation about Mr. Cuomo eying another political comeback reached a fever pitch over the weekend, after a Jewish Insider reporter, Matthew Kassel, posted to X from the Somos political conference in Puerto Rico that Mr. Cuomo is “exploring a campaign for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler’s Manhattan House seat, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
“This was nothing more than fan fic from a bunch of half mad and mostly drunk politicos trapped in the same place,” Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, tells The New York Sun.
Mr. Schlossberg will be entering an already crowded field. Mr. Nadler announced in September that he would not be running for another term in 2026, this after serving 34 years in Congress. The New York 12th district is a highly coveted seat that comprises the bulk of the center of Manhattan, where many of the country’s most influential and wealthy residents live.
Mr. Schlossberg already has a big fan base online and deep political connections through his family name. He is a Harvard-trained lawyer but works as a political commentator and social media influencer. He has 172,000 followers on X, 722,000 followers on Instagram, and 836,000 followers on TikTok.
Mr. Schlossberg built his social media following with idiosyncratic posts about Jesus’s physique, Ezra Klein’s “glow up,” and more straightforward political critiques of President Trump and the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mr. Schlossberg’s cousin. In one post to X that went viral last April, he said he was having an “out of wedlock” baby with second lady Usha Vance. He also made headlines for endorsing Zohran Mamdani over his relative-through-marriage, Mr. Cuomo.
Mr. Schlossberg says his reputation for bizarre posts — like asking his followers who is hotter, Jackie Kennedy or Usha Vance — is all strategy. “Flipping people out and getting a reaction is almost half the battle,” he told Jenn Psaki on MSNBC.
“I think that the internet is a place where it’s difficult to break through, and it’s difficult to break through especially if you’re not saying something that’s controversial or at least somehow unexpected,” Mr. Schlossberg said. “I see that Democrats play that game not as well as we could.”
When Mr. Schlossberg does announce a run, he will likely rise to the top of the field based on his Kennedy pedigree alone. A Democratic strategist, Hank Sheinkopf, tells the Sun the scion, though, will have sharp competition from Mr. Nadler’s heir apparent, Assemblyman Micah Lasher.
Mr. Lasher was the first to file to run for the seat. He represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan and has worked closely with Mr. Nadler for more than a decade. He previously worked for Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
“He worked for the governor. He worked for Nadler. He’s the assemblyman. He’s a very smart campaigner, and he’s very sharp, and he’s more in line ideologically with the west side,” Mr. Sheinkopf says of Mr. Lasher.
Mr. Schlossberg may have the most national name recognition, but he is not the only young, telegenic candidate in the race. A 26-year-old Rhodes Scholar and activist, Liam Elkind, a 46-year-old city council member, Erik Bottcher, and a 35-year-old state assemblyman, Alex Bores, are also running for Mr. Nadler’s seat.
