Dem
47
GOP
53
Last week, we noted that Jack Kennedy's only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, is running for Congress in NY-12, the Manhattan district being vacated by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). Now he has competition. Cameron Kasky has announced that he is also entering the Democratic primary, where he will face Schlossberg and possibly more challengers.
Kasky is a survivor of the massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. He co-founded the March for Our Lives movement, which pushes for stricter gun laws. Kasky is somewhat leftier than Schlossberg, but not that much. He is also 25, so he is legal, but the argument that Congress needs fresh blood is somewhat weak against Schlossberg, who is only 32 himself. Schlossberg has a couple of arguments in his favor. He was born in the district, went to school there, and lived there his entire life until he went to college. Kasky was born in Florida, lived there through high school, and only moved in New York when he started at Columbia University, from which he dropped out without a degree. Schlossberg has a bachelor's from Yale and a combination J.D. and MBA from Harvard. He is a member of the New York bar. He also has access to the Democratic establishment and donors via his mother, Caroline Kennedy.
In short, Schlossberg is going to be the establishment favorite and is only 7 years older than Kasky. He will have money out the wazoo and lived all of his youth in the district whereas Kasky is a recent arrival (= carpetbagger) from Florida. NY-12 is a very wealthy district, with a median household income of $150,000. All things considered, a moderately liberal Kennedy scion who comes from wealth and is the grandson of a beloved president is a better fit for the district than a queer leftist kid from Florida who just showed up. One of the lessons Democrats are (slowly) learning is that candidates need to be a good fit for the district or state they are running in and Schlossberg is a pretty good fit for a district that exudes money and power and covers Manhattan from 18th St. up to 100th St. across all of Manhattan and a bit farther north on Riverside Drive and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
Yesterday, it got even weirder. George Conway, a former card-carrying member of the Federalist Society, and dyed-in-the-wool conservative, is thinking of running for Nadler's seat, too. And get this: as a Democrat.
Conway takes part in a podcast with Sarah Longwell at The Bulwark where he dumps on Donald Trump about once a week, but that doesn't make him a Democrat the way Schlossberg and his family have been for generations. Conway used to live in NY-12, but moved to D.C. when his former wife, Kellyanne Conway, became Donald Trump's (third) campaign manager in 2016. If both challengers jump in, Schlossberg will call Kasky a carpetbagger and Conway a lifelong conservative Republican who only recently saw the light. (V)