Sara Pequeño: Nancy Pelosi endorses Jack Schlossberg. It’s time to retire

On Tuesday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg to be the next leader of New York’s 12th Congressional District – because of course she did.

Rep. Pelosi, a California Democrat set to retire this election cycle, claimed in her endorsement that Schlossberg is “the best of his generation” who, according to USA Today, “understands that progress is not some abstract idea,” and that he “possesses a unique ability to navigate the digital and the classical political worlds in ways that can get things done for people.”

As a young Democrat who should, by Pelosi’s definition, be a Schlossberg supporter, I can’t help but see this as nothing more than continuing a political dynasty at any cost. President John F. Kennedy’s grandson seems to care more about trolling on the internet than kitchen table issues. What’s scary is that, with this endorsement, he’s got a shot at leading New York’s 12th Congressional District.

Several months ago, I wrote a column explaining why Schlossberg is the wrong guy to represent the Manhattan district in Congress. He has no political experience and no discernible platform, and is a deeply unserious person. He’s incapable of reading the room.

He’s been primarily referred to in the generous media coverage of his campaign as a “social media provocateur” or an “unorthodox” content creator, which should signal his lack of job experience. Schlossberg got a law degree and briefly worked at the State Department as a staff assistant, but his professional credentials essentially end there.

He’s also up against several candidates with more experience holding public office, who are just as young and capable of harnessing social media for the party’s advantage. For candidates like Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who was endorsed by the current representative of the district, a Pelosi endorsement could have catapulted him into the mainstream.

I can see a world where Schlossberg is useful, and why Pelosi thinks he needs to be the new face of the Kennedy political dynasty – after all, he is handsome and charismatic, as any profile of the 33-year-old will tell you. But those two characteristics can only get you so far, and he doesn’t seem to offer much beyond those two things.

Pelosi knows this, and she knows that her word still carries some weight in this country. She is also a firm supporter of the Kennedy family. In 2020, she endorsed Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III over Sen. Ed Markey, despite the fact that the incumbent was and is well-loved in Massachusetts. But at least that Kennedy had political experience in the House – Schlossberg seems to only have what he’s accomplished with his family ties.

Look: I’m someone who deeply, deeply believes that we need more young, progressive people in Congress. I want to see Democrats rally around the youngest members of their party and promote new talent. Even so, choosing to endorse somebody simply because he’s a Kennedy whose posts do numbers online doesn’t actually do anything to promote fresh ideas or push the party forward.

If anything, it proves that Democrats are still stuck in the past.

What worries me is that he might have a shot – especially with Pelosi’s endorsement in his back pocket. It’d be one thing if Schlossberg were a thoughtful politician who had put in work to champion issues affecting Manhattan and New York City, like affordability or the housing crisis, but he can’t even be bothered to add a political platform to his website.

The candidate does not deserve political props for his mere existence in the Kennedy family tree, yet that’s exactly what Schlossberg just received. In the process of this colossal failure to read the room, Pelosi is reminding everyone why it’s her time to retire, and why the Democratic Party is as broken as ever.

Follow USA Today columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social