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For generations, the Kennedy name has been a shorthand in American politics for youth, glamour, public service and electoral success. But on Tuesday, Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, finished a distant third in a New York Democratic congressional primary—raising the question of whether the political magic around one of America's most famous dynasties has finally run out.
Schlossberg, 33, lost the race for New York's 12th Congressional District to state Assemblymember Micah Lasher despite entering the contest with perhaps the most recognizable surname in Democratic politics. The political newcomer campaigned heavily on social media and sought to present himself as a bridge between younger voters and a Democratic Party struggling to connect online. Yet he secured about 11 percent of the vote, finishing well behind Lasher's 39 percent and Assemblymember Alex Bores' 35 percent.
For a family that once seemed almost uniquely capable of turning celebrity into votes, it was a striking result.
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Schlossberg appeared to possess many of the ingredients that once made the Kennedys political stars. The son of former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Australia Caroline Kennedy, he has built a sizable online following through a mix of political commentary, humor and deliberately unconventional social media posts. During the campaign, he told New York broadcaster NY1 that Democrats needed "new energy" and a stronger connection with younger voters.
But voters in New York's 12th District chose a more traditional political operator with deep ties to the state's Democratic establishment.
When the Kennedy Name Wasn't Enough
Newsweek spoke with political professor Larry J. Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and a longtime scholar of the Kennedy family's political legacy.
He said Schlossberg's loss was illustrative of what he had "been arguing for years"—that "the Kennedy dynasty would fade as the Kennedy myth faded."
"Those who witnessed the development of the myth and were alive at the moment when much of it was created are passing on," Sabato told Newsweek. "There's almost nobody left."
Sabato was also critical of Schlossberg's campaign, saying he "may have thought he was being serious about this, but he was not."
"New York 12 is a series district. It's highly educated, mainly older voters," Sabato added.
He argued that Schlossberg's campaign "assumed too much" about voters recognizing Schlossberg as part of the Kennedy family.
"They assumed that people would make the connection with the dynasty," Sabato said. "And that alone would not have been enough to elect him or nominate him anyway, but assuming that was a major mistake."
He said that while in the '60s, '70s and '80s it was almost enough to simply be a Kennedy, "depending on the dynasty image and reality is going to fail if there isn't something substantive undergirding it."
Throughout the campaign, Schlossberg sought to emphasize issues over family history, arguing that Democrats needed to do more to reach younger voters and adapt to a changing media landscape. He repeatedly cast himself as a candidate focused on generational change.
Newsweek has contacted Schlossberg's office for comment via email outside normal working hours.
The Kennedy Election Machine Winds Down
Schlossberg's loss also underscores a broader reality. The Kennedy political machine that dominated Democratic politics for much of the second half of the 20th century has been winding down for years.
The last Kennedy to win federal elected office was Representative Joe Kennedy III, a grandson of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was reelected in 2018 to a fourth term in the House. Two years later, he suffered a historic defeat in Massachusetts, losing a Democratic Senate primary to incumbent Ed Markey. It was the first electoral loss for a Kennedy in what had long been the family's political stronghold.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy's election to the White House transformed the family into a national political dynasty synonymous with Democratic power. His brothers Robert F. Kennedy and Edward "Ted" Kennedy also became towering figures in the party.
The Kennedys political reach extended into the next generation. Patrick Kennedy, for instance, won a seat in the U.S. House in 1994 at age 27. The congressman, the son of Ted Kennedy, served Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District for 16 years.
Yet as older members left public office, a younger generation has not emerged to maintain the dynasty's electoral grip.
Sabato said he teaches a course on the Kennedys every year and often finds students "who don't know the basics."
"It's just like studying the pre-Civil War America or something like that, and it's not that they're ignorant, it is simply that this isn't a priority for most Americans," he added.
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Standing on Ceremony
Still, the Kennedy name has hardly vanished from public life. In recent years, several family members have held prominent government roles—but through appointment rather than election.
Caroline Kennedy served as U.S. ambassador to Japan under President Barack Obama and later as ambassador to Australia under President Joe Biden, while Joe Kennedy III returned to government in 2022 as U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic affairs.
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The most prominent Kennedy in office today is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. After abandoning his 2024 presidential bid—in which he ran first as a Democrat and later as an independent—he endorsed Donald Trump and was appointed to the president's Cabinet.
His rise represents a remarkable shift for a family once viewed as the embodiment of Democratic establishment politics. While former President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy helped define the modern Democratic Party, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has built his national profile through criticism of vaccines and public health institutions, drawing criticism not only from Democrats but from members of his own family.
While the Kennedys remain influential, their power is increasingly exercised through appointments, advocacy and celebrity rather than the ballot box.
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Is the Romance Dead?
If any modern Kennedy seemed capable of turning the family's legacy into renewed electoral success, it was Schlossberg.
His defeat, however, suggests that even the most visible heir to the family name may struggle to convert recognition into votes.
The timing of his campaign also seemed favorable. More than six decades after John F. Kennedy's assassination, public fascination with the Kennedy family remains resilient, with television dramas and documentaries revisiting the family's stories. Most recently, the FX drama Love Story, which centers the romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, debuted earlier this year.
Another series, Kennedy, is in production at Netflix, according to the streamer's editorial site, Tudum. The show, inspired by Fredrik Logevall's book JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956, traces the rise of the Kennedy family from the 1930s. It follows patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., played by two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender; his wife, Rose; and their nine children as they build the dynasty that would eventually produce a president and reshape American politics.
However, if Schlossberg's defeat is anything to go by, it's an open question as to whether Americans' ongoing captivation with the Kennedy story will again translate into electoral success, or whether the Kennedys have become less a living political dynasty than a relic of a bygone American age.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Shakeema Edwards.
Correction 6/24/26, 9:26 a.m. ET: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president ahead of the 2024 election.
Update 6/24/26, 11:15 a.m. ET: This post was updated with comments from Larry J. Sabato.
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