Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put her name behind Jack Schlossberg's bid for Congress, and now a cascade of departing staffers, missed meetings, and what one ex-employee called a "dollar-store" campaign is raising hard questions about her judgment and his readiness for office.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put her name behind Jack Schlossberg's bid for Congress, and now a cascade of departing staffers, missed meetings, and what one ex-employee called a "dollar-store" campaign is raising hard questions about her judgment and his readiness for office.
Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy, is running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York's 12th Congressional District. He launched his campaign in November. By the end of his first day, the New York Post reported, he had already bailed on a series of interviews with donors and media, telling staffers he needed to take a nap before vanishing for the rest of the day.
That pattern, sources close to the campaign told the New York Times, has repeated itself over six months of erratic behavior, mysterious absences, and a staff turnover rate that would embarrass a fast-food franchise.
Campaign finance records and interviews paint a picture of organizational chaos. Schlossberg has cycled through at least two campaign managers, two field directors, several advisers, and a rotating cast of consultants since launching his bid. The former Vogue political correspondent also fired a number of employees, most of whom reportedly stayed on the payroll for weeks because nobody told them they had been let go.
Jorge Muñiz Reyes, a canvassing coordinator, walked out last week. He said he lost patience with Schlossberg's lack of interest in community issues and basic campaign management.
Reyes compared the operation to a "dollar-store flower bouquet." As he told the New York Times:
"The colors might be nice to look at for a few days. But since the flowers lack roots, they can't last very long."
That is not the kind of testimonial a frontrunner wants six months into a primary.
The concerns go beyond staffing. Sources described Schlossberg flaking on weekly strategy meetings and disappearing for long stretches without warning or explanation. During those absences, he apparently found time for swims and paddleboarding in the Hudson River.
For a candidate seeking to represent one of the most densely populated congressional districts in the country, the optics are difficult to spin. Voters in Manhattan's 12th District, which includes the Upper West Side, parts of Midtown, and neighborhoods stretching into Brooklyn, expect their representative to show up. Schlossberg's own team couldn't get him to show up for them.
Pelosi, who endorsed Schlossberg in February and cited his "youth appeal," now finds her political brand tied to a campaign that insiders describe as rudderless. It is not the first time the former Speaker's endorsement calculus has drawn scrutiny. She has faced questions about declining to back any candidate for her own congressional seat in San Francisco, leaving that race wide open even as she intervened in a New York primary.
Schlossberg's campaign manager, Paige Phillips, pushed back on the reporting. She told the Times that Schlossberg has been campaigning "amid a deeply, deeply personal tragedy," pointing to the December death of his sister, Tatiana Schlossberg, who died at 35.
"If an anonymous source thought he 'disappeared' at any point, they should remind themselves of that fact."
Phillips also dismissed the staff turnover as routine, calling Schlossberg "decisive and honest about what (or who) works and what doesn't." She framed that as a positive trait. "In a campaign that spans nine months, this stuff should not surprise anyone working in New York politics," she said.
No one disputes that losing a sibling is devastating. But the reports of dysfunction began on day one of his campaign launch, weeks before his sister's death in late December. The nap that replaced his first round of donor and media interviews happened in November. The timeline does not support grief as a blanket explanation for the campaign's problems.
The candidate himself responded to the New York Times report with a move that tells you everything about his political instincts. He posted a photo of himself napping on Instagram Thursday morning.
"Needed a quick nap!! Even though I just woke up. Rest of the day and months is wide open lmk if you wanna hang," Schlossberg captioned the post.
He then went on CNN and defended his operation, describing his "nimble and small" team as deliberately unconventional. He flatly denied the claims in the Times report.
"I work harder than anybody I know, and we're doing it all and making it look easy."
He added: "People can't figure it out. I've got four words for the pundits trying to understand our strategy: Follow the bouncing ball, meaning we're going to lead you and at the end, you'll find out how the song ends."
That is, by any count, more than four words. But precision does not appear to be the campaign's strong suit.
Schlossberg holds a narrow lead in the crowded Democratic primary, buoyed in part by his famous last name and the backing of figures like Pelosi. But endorsements are a form of political currency. When a party elder stakes her credibility on a candidate, she owns a share of the outcome.
Pelosi has spent decades cultivating an image as the Democratic Party's sharpest vote-counter and talent-spotter. Yet her recent moves suggest a leader more interested in legacy plays than in vetting. She endorsed a 33-year-old with no elected experience, no legislative record, and, as it turns out, no apparent ability to keep a campaign manager for more than a few months.
The former Speaker has had a complicated stretch managing her political relationships. She has also had to navigate fallout from scandals involving other Democrats she once stood beside, a pattern that raises questions about the party's internal accountability.
Meanwhile, the broader Democratic caucus in the House continues to face its own turbulence. From misconduct allegations spreading among House members to controversies over members seeking foreign assistance, the bench behind Pelosi's generation of leadership has not exactly inspired confidence.
Schlossberg's supporters will argue that the Times report is an inside-baseball story about campaign staffing, the kind of thing voters never think about on Election Day. Maybe so. But the details here are not about policy disagreements or strategic pivots. They are about whether the candidate can be bothered to attend his own meetings.
A congressional office manages constituent services, oversees casework, navigates committee assignments, and responds to crises. If Schlossberg cannot run a nine-month campaign without hemorrhaging staff and going dark for days, voters in the 12th District have every reason to ask what his congressional office would look like.
His campaign says the claims are not true. His former canvassing coordinator says the operation has no roots. His campaign finance records show a parade of replacements in key positions. And his own response to the controversy was to post a napping selfie.
The Kennedy name opens doors. It does not, by itself, keep them open, and no endorsement from Nancy Pelosi changes that.
