Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion and social media influencer running for a coveted open House seat in Manhattan, came out on Tuesday in support of legislation that would impose unprecedented new restrictions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, despite previously expressing skepticism of the bill.

During a debate on Tuesday evening, Schlossberg pledged that “as of today,” he would vote in support of the Block the Bombs Act, a controversial bill that has drawn backing from a growing number of left-wing House Democrats, casting his rejection of offensive weapons as a response to “a moral question that is being put to our country right now.”

He also reiterated he would vote for continued U.S. funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, saying his position aligns with a commitment to “protect civilian lives as best we can” in the region.

Schlossberg, who has shared inconsistent positions on aid to Israel throughout the campaign to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in a heavily Jewish House district, wrote in a January questionnaire that he was “unsure” whether he would support the Block the Bombs Act, arguing that it “would not provide an avenue to peace and stability.”

Even as he has frequently voiced his objections to future weapons sales to Israel, Schlossberg had not appeared to publicly back the Block the Bombs Act until Tuesday’s debate, marking a clear divide over Israel in the race.

By contrast, Schlossberg’s top rivals in the June 23 primary — including state Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Alex Bores and former GOP attorney George Conway — all declined to support the bill at the debate.

Schlossberg’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about his evolution on the legislation.

The 33-year-old grandson of former President John F. Kennedy has criticized Lasher and Bores for opposing efforts to condition military aid to Israel that single out the Jewish state.

But despite claiming on social media last month that he supports “no weapons to Israel,” Schlossberg has reportedly stated otherwise behind closed doors. 

Speaking in May at a private social club on the Upper East Side, he told members he “probably would have continued funding Israel’s offensive weaponry within the years following Oct. 7,” according to audio of the meeting obtained by Politico. 

His campaign told Politico that Schlossberg’s “views have evolved as the situation has.”

For his part, Schlossberg insisted in a series of social media posts that the story had misrepresented his views and that his stance on offensive aid has been consistent, even though he also said his “position has changed as the situation does.” 

During a candidate forum in January, meanwhile, Schlossberg was comparatively noncommittal about his stance on aid to Israel, which he called “a strong democratic ally historically to the United States.”

“I would want to have a full intelligence briefing to try to understand the situation before supporting any specific legislation,” he said.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his endorsement of Brandon Herrera, the far-right social media influencer who is the presumptive Republican nominee in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District.

Herrera has faced condemnation for videos he posted that featured imagery, music and jokes related to the Nazis and the Holocaust. He also spoke on a podcast last year about owning a copy of Mein Kampf, though he said he does not share the views expressed in Adolf Hitler’s manifesto.

Trump previously backed Herrera’s opponent, incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), who dropped out of the race last week amid an escalating scandal.

“Brandon is strongly supported by many Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in Texas, and Republicans in the U.S. House,” Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. Herrera has been backed by the House Freedom Caucus’ affiliated PAC.

“As your next Congressman, he will work tirelessly to advance our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Agenda,” Trump continued. “Brandon Herrera has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Texas’ 23rd Congressional District — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Trump’s endorsement of Herrera marks a sharp turnabout for the president. Just a month ago, a lawyer for the president sent Herrera a cease-and-desist demanding he stop using Trump’s image in campaign advertisements, calling the ads misleading in light of Trump’s then-endorsement of Gonzales.

Herrera, who has generally taken an anti-interventionist stance on foreign policy issues, including opposing supplemental aid to Israel in 2024, said at the start of the U.S. strikes on Iran that he hopes that “If there must be military action, let it be QUICK, effective, and please God keep our service members safe.”

He said on X in June 2025, the day before the start of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which the U.S. eventually joined, “I don’t want to go to war with Iran. I don’t want to be involved in the Middle East. But if you decide to f*** with us (like they did last time), I wish you a very happy sunk Navy.” 

Herrera has faced condemnation and opposition in the past from groups including the Republican Jewish Coalition. Asked last week about Herrera’s comments that resurfaced last week about Mein Kampf, the RJC affirmed its continued opposition to Herrera.

“The RJC has a long-standing policy of speaking out against those who traffic in Nazi ideology, and this is another case,” spokesperson Sam Markstein told Jewish Insider. “The RJC opposed Mr. Herrera in 2024, and he will not get our support now.” 

With one week to go until the hotly contested Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, a new, well-funded super PAC is spending big on an ad campaign against Kat Abughazaleh, a far-left social media influencer who has staked out strong anti-Israel stances.

The group, Chicago Progressive Partnership, has reportedly spent around $1 million since its campaign against Abughazaleh began last week. A new television ad appears designed to sow doubt about her progressive credentials, referencing her writings from high school, when she backed Marco Rubio, then a senator, in the 2016 presidential primary and expressed conservative views on Social Security.

Other ads from the group accused her of taking donations from billionaires, Republicans and Trump supporters, an issue that has become a major point of attack in the race, primarily targeting moderate state Sen. Laura Fine.

“Who is the real Kat Abughazaleh? We don’t really know,” one ad states.

Abughazaleh has largely brushed off the attacks in a pair of mocking YouTube videos.

“AIPAC is so scared I’m going to beat them next week, and they should be,” she said in one of the videos.

Recent reporting from the district suggests that Chicago Progressive Partnership is tied to Elect Chicago Women, another new super PAC rumored to be backed by Israel supporters, which has spent millions supporting Fine and attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, also an Israel critic.

All told, the focus on attacking Abughazaleh — who would likely be the most hostile of the three candidates toward Israel — suggests a shift in tactics from reportedly pro-Israel groups, which until this week have mainly focused on hitting Biss while boosting Fine.

A new public poll of the primary shows Biss narrowly leading Abughazaleh, 24-20%, with Fine lagging behind in third place with 14% support. The poll also showed Abughazaleh gaining support and Fine losing support over the last several weeks. 

Last month, the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC inadvertently helped boost the far-left Analilia Mejia in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District as it focused its spending against former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), and the new spending against Abughazaleh may be aimed at preventing a repeat of such an outcome.

Elect Chicago Women filed with the Federal Election Commission notice of its most recent pro-Fine expenditures on March 6, and its last anti-Biss expenditures on March 3. The group has spent more than $1 million opposing Biss.

Some in the area had warned that focusing attacks on Biss could replicate a similar outcome as in New Jersey, pushing progressive voters away from him and toward Abughazaleh, though the Elect Chicago Women spending initially focused on boosting Fine, something UDP never did for its favored candidate in New Jersey.

Abughazaleh herself has attributed the influx of spending against her to such concerns, saying in a YouTube video, “I think they’re realizing that they might get another NJ-11 here.”

Meanwhile, in other Chicago-area districts, anti-Israel groups are going on the offensive.

The Justice Democrats and IMEU Policy Project, an anti-Israel group that has been increasingly active politically this cycle, are spending at least $100,000 to attack former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. Bean is a pro-Israel moderate, and favored to win the race.

And in Chicago’s 2nd District, County Commissioner Donna Miller is facing attacks from the Working Families Party in ad accusing Miller of taking “MAGA billionaires’ money,” citing the alleged pro-Israel outside spending in Chicago, and accusing her of collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The WFP ad offers support for state Sen. Robert Peters, highlighting his record of opposing ICE and his endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and others. The group has spent at least $100,000 on the ads.

So far, Elect Chicago Women has spent $3.8 million supporting Bean; Affordable Chicago Now, another group rumored to be backed by Israel supporters, has spent $3.3 million supporting Miller; and UDP has spent $3.3 million supporting Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the 7th Congressional District.

A host of other outside groups, including those affiliated with the AI and cryptocurrency industries, have also spent millions across the four open Chicago House races.

Brandon Herrera, a social media influencer and far-right Republican congressional candidate, moved significantly closer to Congress on Thursday as his Republican opponent, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), dropped out of the race, making Herrera the presumptive GOP nominee in a deeply conservative district.

Herrera has called for the U.S. to end aid to Israel and faced criticism for videos in which he included imagery, music and jokes related to the Holocaust.

Gonzales has been under scrutiny amid growing allegations that he pressured an aide, who later died by suicide, into a sexual relationship with him, a violation of House ethics rules. Both were married with children at the time.

The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into Gonzales this week, and Gonzales admitted to the relationship for the first time on Wednesday, after previously denying it, though he claimed it had played no role in her death.

Amid mounting pressure, the embattled congressman said in a statement Thursday night that he would leave the race “after deep reflection and with the support of my loving family,” though he said he would serve out the remainder of his term.

Gonzales’ withdrawal came after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) and Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) said in a joint statement on Thursday afternoon that they had asked him to withdraw from the race, which had been to a runoff in May.

National Republican Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) echoed the call for Gonzales to drop out.

“I would like to thank Speaker Johnson and House leadership for holding Congressman Tony Gonzales accountable for actions that have tarnished the office,” Herrera said in response to Gonzalez’s announcement. “I’m looking forward to representing the district the way the people of West Texas have always deserved.”

Gonzales finished second in Tuesday’s four-way Republican primary in Texas’ 23rd Congressional district, advancing to a head-to-head runoff against Herrera. Herrera, who lost by just a few hundred votes to Gonzales in 2024, picked up 43% of the primary vote to Gonzales’ 42%.

Herrera faced a barrage of attacks and criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the 2024 race over his stance on Israel and social media videos, but those groups — including the Republican Jewish Coalition and AIPAC’s United Democracy Project — have not intervened against him in this election.

Herrera was also a member of a neoconfederate group.

The Cook Political Report rates the district as “Solid Republican,” but Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas Republican strategist, said in mid-February as the Gonzales scandal gained more attention that Democrats could see the race as winnable with Herrera as the GOP nominee in a potential Democratic wave cycle.

The House Majority PAC, a super PAC tied to House Democratic leadership, has already seized on Herrera’s anticipated nomination highlighting some of his controversial past videos.

Democrats nominated attorney and educator Katy Padilla Stout in their primary this week.

This article was updated to reflect Gonzales’ withdrawal from the race.

At a televised debate in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District on Wednesday evening, far-left activist and social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh said she would not support continued aid for Israel’s Iron Dome, dodged a question on Israel’s right to exist and said that President Donald Trump is only considering strikes on Iran because he wants to “bomb more brown people.”

Questions on Israel policy and accusations about alleged pro-Israel spending in the race dominated much of the hourlong session, having taken on a outsized role in the primary. 

Asked whether she supports Israel’s right to exist, Abughazaleh, who is Palestinian American, responded, “I think that this question is said as if it doesn’t exist. What we need is to ensure that any solution, whether it is a two-state, a single secular state, whatever it is, is negotiated not by America, but by the people that actually live there.”

She went on to highlight her own family’s history, explaining that her great-grandfather was Palestinian and was displaced from the land, where he owned a hotel.

“It’s really important that any solution has full civil and legal rights for everyone living there, regardless of their ethnicity, their religion, and that it is decided by the people who actually live there because we spend so much of our time as a country interfering in other countries and saying that we dictate how they live, and it’s just made places worse,” she continued.

Abughazaleh also said she would not support unconditional aid for defensive systems, specifically naming the Iron Dome missile-defense system.

“Defensive weaponry is an oxymoron. Weapons are inherently offensive,” she said. The Iron Dome system is designed to intercept incoming drones and projectiles and has no offensive applications. 

Pressed again specifically about whether she supports Iron Dome, she said, “No, I don’t support — we need to condition all aid to any country, any ally, it doesn’t matter if it’s Israel. If we aren’t using our leverage, there is no reason to condition any aid.”

State Sen. Laura Fine, the pro-Israel moderate among the three front-runners in the race, responded that the “amount of death and destruction would be incredible, not just to the Israelis in Israel, but also to the Palestinians” if the Iron Dome were not funded, noting that she has taken shelter in safe rooms in Israel during past visits.

Abughazaleh retorted that she had not been to Israel “because my dad was scared I would get detained if I went.”

On Iran, Abughazaleh declared that “this administration doesn’t give a damn” about the Iranian protesters and that potential military strikes in Iran are “an effort for [Trump] to cement his power over more of the world and bomb more brown people.” She said strikes would be an impeachable offense.

She blamed U.S. intervention for the establishment of the Islamic Republic regime in 1979, but said she does support Iranian dissidents.

The far-left activist and influencer said she would want to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee if elected.

Both Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, also running as a critic of Israel, albeit less strident than Abughazaleh, and Fine expressed opposition to military strikes against Iran, though both made clear that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. Biss explicitly endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal; Fine did not.

“We have an unstable leader who’s talking about bringing us into a war,” Fine said, adding Congress should look to cut the “bloated defense budget.”

Abughazaleh also defended a 2024 social media post in which she said that, “like 99% of attacks in history, both by military and terrorists, Oct. 7 was not in a vacuum. It had motivation, which is why they took hostages” — interpreted by many as defending or justifying Hamas’ attack and taking of hostages.

“I think it’s important to mention that, yes, it didn’t happen in a vacuum, because of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s far right government, and because of a pattern of discrimination, a pattern of second-class citizenship, a pattern of exile and a pattern of displacement that my own family underwent,” Abughazaleh said. “Every civilian deserves to be safe. No child deserves to go to bed hungry. Every war criminal should be held accountable, and … we should recognize [Palestinian] statehood so they can negotiate a solution on equal footing.”

Fine indicated she would not support war crimes prosecution against Netanyahu, while Biss said that there “should be thorough investigations and I think the answer [to whether he committed war crimes] is likely going to be yes.”

Biss, who recently said at another forum he would not support any continued funding for arms to Israel, including Iron Dome, softened that stance at the Wednesday night debate and said he does support Iron Dome funding.

He otherwise doubled down on his support for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel and the Block the Bombs Act, saying that conditions are the only way to achieve peace and a two-state solution.

Biss also glossed over his own pivot on aid to Israel since entering the race. In a position paper he shared with AIPAC early in the race — which Biss himself released publicly — Biss’ campaign said he supports “continued aid to Israel in accordance with the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding” and an expanded MOU in the future.

But since entering the race, Biss has come out in support of conditioning aid and the Block the Bombs Act, which contradict the MOU. “I stayed true to my values and took the position that I believe is right, which is that we cannot allow unconditional aid to the Israeli government no matter what they do in Gaza,” Biss claimed, even though the position paper makes no mention of conditioning aid.

Abughazaleh declared that even meeting with representatives from AIPAC is unacceptable.

“The idea that you can separate yourself, even after meeting with them … an organization that supports this administration, and that is supporting a genocide is not a group you should meet with,” she said.

An unfolding scandal implicating Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) could catapult an anti-Israel social media influencer with a history of antisemitic posts to Congress in Texas’ upcoming 23rd District Republican primary.

Brandon Herrera, who ran against Gonzales in 2024, came under fire from Gonzales and Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the previous election cycle over a series of YouTube videos replete with imagery, music and jokes about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust. He also expressed opposition to U.S. aid to Israel.

But Tuesday evening, corroborating a long-running rumor, the San Antonio Express News reported that Gonzales had been having an extramarital affair with a female staffer who died by suicide last year. The Express News reported that the relationship was allegedly well-known to staffers and cited multiple sources close to the woman, including a former colleague, and a text message she sent confirming the relationship prior to her death.

Both Gonzales and the woman were married to other people at the time of the relationship and had children. Gonzales’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider, though he has previously denied the affair.

The Express News’ editorial board announced, hours after the paper broke the story, that it was withdrawing its endorsement of Gonzales.

“The affair is troubling for many reasons,” the editorial board wrote. “First, it is an act of deception. Gonzales is married and has six children. Second, this was not an equal relationship but one involving a staffer. Third, while an attorney for Santos-Aviles’ husband has said he does not believe the affair played a role in the suicide by self-immolation at her home in Uvalde, it still looms over the tragedy.”

Herrera demanded that Gonzales drop out of the race and resign, warning that Gonzales clinching the Republican nomination could allow Democrats to flip the seat in November. 

“[Gonzales] not only broke House ethics rules by having an adulterous affair with a member of his congressional staff and by using taxpayer money to fund the affair, but he also broke trust with the public by insisting that the initial reporting of the affair was false,” Herrera said. “If he prevails in the primary and becomes our party’s nominee in the general election, Democrats will seize the opportunity to flip a reliable Republican seat blue.”

Democrats have an outside shot of flipping the district, which voted for President Donald Trump by 15 points in 2024, in November.

“It’s shameful that Brandon Herrera is using a disgruntled former staffer to smear her memory and score political points, conveniently pushing this out the very day early voting started,” Gonzales responded in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “I am not going to engage in these personal smears and instead will remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”

The late staffer’s husband said in an interview on Wednesday, his first time speaking out about the situation, that Gonzales had “abused his power” and that his wife’s mental state deteriorated after he discovered the affair and the spouses separated. He said he did not believe she was trying to kill herself, but that it was “a cry for help that turned into a tragedy.”

He said he wants Gonzales to face accountability and criticized the congressman for “pushing, you know, family values and Christian morals … denying the fact that he’s ruined somebody’s life.”

Gonzales narrowly beat Herrera in a head-to-head primary runoff in 2024, 51%-49%, a margin of less than 400 votes. Herrera has spent the last two years on the campaign trail, gearing up for a rematch.

Even before the scandal broke, a Political Intelligence (PI) poll published last week by the Daily Caller showed that Herrera led Gonzales 33%-29% among likely Republican primary voters, growing his lead to 43%-34% in a head-to-head matchup. 

Neither the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project nor the Republican Jewish Coalition, which collectively spent $1.4 million opposing Herrera in 2024, responded to inquiries about whether they plan to be involved in the race again this year.

Gonzales maintains a significant lead over Herrera in fundraising, closing out 2025 with $2.5 million on hand to Herrera’s $722,000. If neither candidate breaks 50% in the primary election, the highest vote-getters will advance to a head-to-head run-off election.

Two other Republican candidates, former Rep. Quico Canseco (R-TX) and veteran Keith Barton, are also in the race, but both trail significantly in fundraising.

Gonzales also has the backing of Trump, despite efforts by Herrera to tie himself to the president. Trump sent a cease-and-desist letter to Herrera’s campaign in January demanding that he stop using Trump’s image in campaign materials, which a Trump representative called misleading.

Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas Republican strategist, noted to Jewish Insider that the report came days into the early voting period, putting the issue front-and-center for voters as they head to the polls.

But the extent of the story’s impact, he continued, will depend on how much voters are aware of it — whether they’re seeing it repeatedly in conservative media and to what extent the Herrera campaign invests in spreading the news widely, and through what channels. He also noted that the latest reporting will likely be most voters’ first exposure to the story.

“I think it’s complicated, and I think it’s definitely not good,” Steinhauser said. “The news is tragic and horrible, and he clearly made bad decisions, and the voters are going to have their say on that, and we’ll see what they do.”

Steinhauser predicted that the race is likely to go to a runoff, and said some voters might also stay home, if they have negative views of both candidates.

When the results are tallied, the impact of the story may be measurable, he added, in whether Gonzales’ share of the votes drops from the start of early voting to later in the early voting period and election day ballots.

The revelations about Gonzales will also make it harder for Republicans to hold onto the seat in November, with both potential Republican nominees now carrying baggage into the general election. “If I were the Democrats, I would probably be looking at investing more money here,” Steinhauser said.

Mark Jones, a Texas pollster and political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that Gonzales has “had a whirlwind” turnaround from solidifying the support of the president and the GOP establishment to the latest revelations. 

Though rumors had been circulating for a number of months about the affair, “it’s one thing to have them be allegations with him denying them, and another thing for it to be increasingly credible evidence that not only was he having an affair with this woman, but then he was disingenuous in terms of his responses and when questioned about it,” Jones said.

Jones added that Trump’s response, if any, to the news would be decisive, given the president’s immense popularity and the value of his endorsement with Texas voters.

He said that the Gonzales scandal is most likely to be a problem for Republicans in November if there is a “continued drip, drip of information that increasingly links Congressman Gonzales to this woman’s death.”

“Herrera has a fair point, certainly, the Tony Gonzales without this whole incident is a much stronger candidate than the Tony Gonzales with this incident,” he continued, while arguing that Gonzales is still likely to be “viewed more positively than Herrera” — and, as a moderate, is better aligned with the district — particularly if Democrats spend millions on an anti-Herrera campaign.

Jack Schlossberg’s decision to launch a bid for Congress in New York City last week was just the latest example of a Kennedy scion hoping to ascend to federal office, testing the continued strength of a hallowed family name whose political currency has dwindled over the years.

His unorthodox campaign also marked the most recent arrival of a new type of political candidate that has cropped up with increasing regularity this election cycle: the social media influencer vying for power beyond the screen.

Schlossberg, the 32-year-old grandson of John. F. Kennedy, is joining a growing crop of young House contenders with digital clout who have been seeking to convert online popularity into a seat in Congress. His campaign announcement follows, among other recent newcomers, Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old left-wing social media influencer running in next year’s crowded Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in the Chicago suburbs.

Both parties have tried to harness social media to advance their messages while courting influencers and content creators to broaden their appeal among younger online voters. But as influencers engaged in political commentary now pursue political office — most with few apparent qualifying credentials — it remains to be seen if their new efforts can translate to winning campaigns.

And it’s not just young recruits trying to parlay their social media clout into political success. George Conway, the vocally anti-Trump conservative lawyer, is hoping that 2.2 million followers on X and his prolfic online attacks against the president will translate into Democratic votes as he seriously considers running in the Nadler district as well. To succeed, voters in the heavily-Democratic district would have to overlook his long record of traditionally conservative views on policy.

So far, the results have not been promising for such candidates. In a special election for a vacant House seat in Arizona this past summer, for instance, Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old influencer, fell short by a nearly 40-point margin, losing to a more well-known local lawmaker, Adelita Grijalva —  a daughter of the late congressman who represented the district for more than two decades. 

Foxx, a progressive TikTok activist who first drew national attention during a viral confrontation with a former Republican senator, raised a lot of money for her campaign, and polling suggested that she was gaining traction toward the end of the race. But despite the hype, a majority of voters ultimately elevated a more traditional choice to the Capitol — underscoring the obstacles in to translating online fame to electoral success.

In Houston, meanwhile, Isaiah Martin, a young Democratic activist with a sizable online following who previously served as an advisor to the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), faced a similar outcome in a crowded special House election in November — placing fifth with only 5% of the vote.

For her part, Abughazaleh, a former video producer for Media Matters of America who recently pleaded not guilty to federal charges last month alleging that she impeded immigration agents during a protest, is also trailing well behind a more established primary opponent, Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, polls have shown — though many voters still remain undecided.

On the Republican side, some far-right influencers have also fared poorly in recent elections, including Laura Loomer in Florida and Brandon Herrera in Texas.

Jonathan Nagler, the co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, said that “we have no evidence that being able to influence someone’s consumer decisions translates to the ability to influence their political decisions. But one of the things essential for winning office is name recognition. Influencers have that. And they have the ability to reach lots of voters. That means they have the necessary resources to run a real campaign. So they become potential candidates.”

“The challenge for influencers is to come up with issues to run on,” he told Jewish Insider. “They need some reasons to suggest they can be politically relevant and do something that matters to people.”

In Schlossberg’s case, it is for now unclear if he can meaningfully leverage his family ties as he enters an increasingly crowded primary featuring a range of state and local elected officials whose political and legislative backgrounds far outmatch his own thin resume. 

The Kennedy heir, who is a graduate of both Yale and Harvard, has most notably served a stint in the State Department and was a political correspondent for Vogue, where he wrote just a handful of articles — underlining his limited professional experience.

His campaign website is short on policy and instead features vague pronouncements on such concepts as “focus,” “optimism,” “courage” and “accountability.”

He is best known for his provocative social media presence, which has stirred controversy that could fuel attacks in the open primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in Manhattan. A recently resurfaced online video where Schlossberg seems to repeatedly perform a Nazi salute is among the posts that have raised questions about his new candidacy.   

Still, one Democratic strategist who spoke with Schlossberg before he launched his campaign said that he had gotten a largely positive first impression from their conversation — despite his reputation for bizarre and often outlandish social media stunts.

“He’s smart. Had something to him. But IDK,” the strategist texted skeptically, using digital shorthand for “I don’t know.”

Nadler, who is expected to endorse his protégé, Micah Lasher, an assemblyman who represents the Upper West Side, has also expressed doubts about Schlossberg’s campaign, saying he “certainly is not going to be a major candidate” and that the House replacement “should be somebody with a record of public service, a record of public accomplishment.”

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York City, told JI that “being an influencer in today’s campaign world matters certainly with younger voters,” but suggested that Schlossberg would need to adapt to reach a broader subset of voters in an older and more traditionally liberal district.

“In the complicated candidate and geography he will face, it is only a small part of the coming highly competitive campaign,” he said.