Jack Schlossberg Positions Himself as the Future of the Democratic Party

I'm getting a little sick and tired of this. Everyone acts like I'm controversial just because I was out there early doing this and now everyone does the kind of stuff that I do including the president of the United States who's the most controversial online figure in history. Hello, hello and welcome to the conversation. I'm Dasha Burns and every week on this show I talk to the most compelling and sometimes unexpected power players in Washington and beyond. And this week I sat down for a lively conversation with Jack Schlossberg, Democratic candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District. As the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, he comes from a family with a historic tradition of public service. And so my fellow Americans,

ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. But the meaning behind being a Kennedy has shifted more in recent years with his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the Trump administration's health and human services. President Trump is committed to restoring the American dream and 77 million Americans delivered a mandate to him to do just that doing part to the embrace and elevation of the Make America Healthy Again movement. type of legacy around his name, Schlossberg has had to define who he is as a candidate and one of the ways he's doing that is by being very online. Introducing No Pac Jack who doesn't take money from super PACs, corporate PACs, or Big Tech and AI and has two thumbs? This guy.

As New York voters gear up for the primary on June 23rd, their ballots will answer, has the Kennedy name helped or harmed the Schlossberg campaign? Does Schlossberg's social media presence make him stand out or are voters not in on the joke? And ultimately, even if the Schlossberg campaign can capture our attention, do voters take him seriously enough to elect him? Jack Schlossberg joins the conversation. Jack Schlossberg, thank you so much for joining the conversation. I'm so happy to be here with you, Dasha. Thank you. I see all of this New York Jack for New York posters behind you. New York, New York. I miss it. I lived there for

10 years before coming to DC, but I did not live in your district New York 12. It's a district that is older, wealthier. It's often viewed as kind of emblematic of establishment Democratic politics. You on the other hand are a younger, less traditional candidate. How do you sort of bridge that gap in this campaign? I was born and raised in this district, New York 12, which is 9 goes from 96th Street to 14th Street in Manhattan. So, in other words, it's the center of the whole universe in the world and the most important place on Earth. And the Bill of Rights was signed in a Manhattan in New York is turning 400 years old this year. And the next one. So, It's a big time for New York.

And the World Cup is coming here. So, look, I am deeply from here. Um and I really care about this place. It's my community and I've lived here my whole life, but there's 100% an establishment here that is resistant to change. Um and so, I'm really proud to represent the outsider in this race. I put my money where my mouth is when I say that. A lot of people probably take a second look at me saying I'm an outsider given my family, but uh they involved, yeah. Yeah, they might not realize though that I don't have a super PAC and I'm up against uh almost $30 million in super PAC money. Our average contribution is 30 bucks. We're like an actual grassroots movement. One that um you know, I started building with an

online following in 2023, 2024 and that has really grown into a really strong, powerful campaign here in New York 12 that represents policy changes as well as integrity and trust up against two people my main opponent who are who are financed by Republican billionaires. And as you said this is an older district more affluent district but it is probably the most one of if not the most solidly blue progressive seats in the whole country and it really represents a seat in Congress that is known for leadership on progressive values and that's why we're going to win because we're the progressive in this race and we're the proud leader of a grassroots movement that represents what all Democrats in the country right now want.

You know you mentioned this you are very online. You've cultivated a really dynamic and by some measures controversial social media presence. No hold on because everyone cuz I'm like I'm getting a little sick and tired of this. Everyone acts like I'm controversial just because I was out there early doing this and now everyone does the kind of stuff that I do including the president of the United States who is the most controversial online figure in history and we better be controversial right now. Yes. You're actually hitting the point that I wanted dig into here because I think you have started to do for Democrats what Trump has done

for Republicans which is kind of try to bring the party into this new era of politics. So a couple of questions there. Number one the Jack that people see online is that the same Jack that voters meet on the campaign trail? Well let me say this. Jack online is a million different Jacks because every person contains multitudes and I am a serious person who spent a very long time in the library studying the law. I've got three higher degrees in higher education. I'm a funny person because that's who I am. I'm someone who really cares about other people in the community, so that's when you see me shaking hands or working at soup kitchens. I'm a disciplined person, so when you see me in the campaign office

or working on policy. So, I would invite people to look at all of my uh social media stuff and that's the whole point is that nobody is just one person and people are sick and tired of politicians who just try to portray one element of their personality and it's whatever is the highest poll tested thing. But, the person that people meet in real life is people are often shocked that I can put a sentence together after what after people portray Because people portray me online as someone who's They told They Every The whole media told the whole world for like a year that I was mentally insane, you know? And I'm fine with that because my viewers, my people who follow me totally get it. And nobody in real life is um falls for that. But, you know,

media in this day and age portrays people who are trying to do things differently, as they always have, which is, you know, the first person who breaks the mold often gets a black eye and I'm I'm proud to have said that this is the way of the future and that's why we're going to win. But, do you think any of that comes from what people see online from the content you produce yourself, too? I mean, I know you have you contain multitudes and your online persona contains multitudes, but the stuff that goes viral is a certain kind of post, right? Yeah, I think honestly, I'm fascinated by how fast the internet changes. So, like the first stuff that I did that went viral was really different than

Like at first it was happy warrior Kamala. Then it was edgelord Trump wins. Now it's it's it's a combination of being policy-driven, community-oriented, and running a campaign. So, I think the internet has really changed a lot in the three and a half year two and a half years since I've been trying to do political activism there. And I don't think the kind of viral success I had in the beginning is even possible now. I think the algorithms are so corrupted, even more so than they were before by paid political content that's undisclosed. You know, you look at my feed now and you see evidence of my opponents where I can't prove this, so you know, I got to be careful.

Um, I can't prove it yet, but you look at my feed now and it's filled with bot comments that are clearly paid for by my opponents on my page. So, there's a lot more stuff like this going on and people got to be really, really careful about the information that they absorb and make sure that they're thinking critically about it. Have you ever regretted anything you posted? Not once. That is bold. That I don't know a lot of people who post on social media frequently that have no regrets. All right, all right. Um, you mentioned policy. What are the policies that are a part of your campaign that you feel like are really resonating in this race right now?

Deduct your rent from your taxes, Dasha. Half the city is rent burdened. It means they spend a third of their income on rent or more. So, deduct your rent from your taxes. This is a simple thing that you could put in a must-pass bill and allow all renters to deduct their rent from their taxes. It could save them thousands of dollars a year. Everybody wants more housing here in New York. We all agree, every candidate running won't stop talking about how we got to build more housing and I completely agree. We got to build more housing. We got to protect public housing. But what can we do right now? Deduct your rent from your taxes.

Another really popular one, Trump Tower is in the middle of this district. It costs New York City 300 million dollars a year. New York state taxpayers are paying for the perimeter around Trump Tower, shutting down 58th Street. I want to make Trump pay for it and invest that 300 million in cops, teachers, and transit. Plus, I mean, we've got a million policies. We've got our no pay for prep and pep plan. We need to make sure that HIV medication is free for everybody, no matter what. So, I want to make HIV prep and pep medication free at the point of care and increase the child tax credit by $200 a month and make it paid out monthly and not annually. So, even with the way that you sort

of phrase your policies, they're they're a lot clearer than I think some other candidates might present them. You know, Democrats are often criticized for getting like too into the weeds on process and not focusing enough on how to actually message the policy. The thing that you've demonstrated is that you're really good at getting attention, at putting attention as well on some of those issues. But, what is your argument that you would be good at legislating? Well, look, think about what the job of a Congressperson is. You're one of 400-something people. You go down there. Your job is to bring back dollars for your district and to pass laws, and that requires introducing legislation and building coalitions to

to build support to actually get something through Congress. It's a slow process. I go down there with not only a law degree, a business degree, a lifetime working on campaigns, and policies that actually could get passed. Why would I be good at it? Because I'll go down there and confuse everybody, and they'll all want to work with me. What do you mean you'll confuse everybody? Yeah, everyone expects Democrats to be close-minded and wanting to fight Trump at, you know, with everything they got. I do. I also want to make friends. I also want to stretch my hand out. I also want to begin a new era of politics where we

realize that we're not as divided as we think, and that we can all agree on deduct your rent from your taxes. We can all agree on make HIV medication free. We can make incremental progress cool again, and show people that government works for people. But, I think the reason that Democrats have so little success is because we talk about things at such a high level. You know, we're talking about democracy and the Constitution. Well, I need to know what that really means. So, people need to understand that you can't just say overturn Citizens United, you have to say make all super PAC funding disclosed.

You can't just say save democracy, you have to say make mail-in balloting universal. You can't just say, you know, Medicare for all, you have to say universal health care single payer system. That means that you don't have to pay for dental health and vision anymore. I'm waiting for the make incremental progress cool again bumper sticker. That's what I'm waiting for. We're getting them printed now. In that vein, do you think that in this era of politics that attention actually is power? I would not design the world that we live in today if it were up to me, but yes, I do. It may be sad. I think we're all being brainwashed right now and our minds are being turned into slush, but social media and new media in general means

that attention is how you get things done. Look at the only two things Democrats have gotten done since Trump got in. It's been holding up ICE DHS funding and the Epstein files, and that's a direct result of public pressure, of massive amounts of attention being put on specific issues and the public demanding Congress act. And we need to apply that formula to everything we want to get done. We just cannot ignore the fact that President Trump commands all of our attention 24/7, and he also happens to control all three branches of government. And if we don't take a lesson out of that playbook, not that we want to use the power for evil as he is, but we need to make sure that we're putting on our own show that people want

to watch. Because if we're boring and we're not having any fun doing it, then we can't expect anybody to want to be a part of our team. So, you think the attention economy is not necessarily healthy, but it is the system with which you have to play in. the reality, yes. What are the criticisms of you? Is that you don't have the traditional experience that someone running for Congress typically does. Do you think that's fair? I think that's the exact reason why we're going to win. And of course, I do not have the typical experience of somebody typically running for Congress because I have a unique life experience. I mean, I'm 33 years old. I work my ass off and

there are no gaps on my resume. And I'm running for Congress because I think I'd be really great at it. I've heard you say that before. What Why is that something that you keep going back to? Like people act like I've never done anything before. And people act like the only experience is if you cash a taxpayer paycheck. And you know, there's only one type of experience and that argument has been used forever against JFK, against my uncle Teddy when they ran, that they didn't have the experience required. That's what they said about Mondale, means what they said about Obama. That's what people inside the system say about people from outside who want to try to help. And that's all

I'm doing. I'm just offering myself up as a candidate, just trying to help. And people really want to vote for me. And I don't understand why my experience as working on campaigns, someone who can practice law in the state of New York, someone with a business degree, someone who built their own media company, yeah, of course, that's not the traditional experience people have and I think that's what's going to make me way better at the job than somebody who has been sucking up to the same mega donors here in New York City who's just going to go down to Washington and do things the exact same way. Think about the experience the other people have. Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? Experience of Alex Borres, gets an Ivy League education, goes to work for Palantir. Runs for Congress, takes $10 million from Anthropic and cryptocurrency magnate Chris Larsen. Michael Lasher, sucks up to every person in New York City politics for 20 years, architect of stop and frisk, runs for Congress, takes more than $10 million from a Republican billionaire just to push his name all over television. How is that experience more worthy than running a grassroots campaign that people really support and releasing more policies and more plans than anybody else? Come on. Well, you know, we've seen recently voters reject several candidates from political dynasties. You saw that happen

with Angus King the third last week in Maine. I do wonder how do you feel like your family ties play to voters? The Schlossberg name is something voters, you know, the Schlossberg dynasty is one that voters really feel um has contributed a lot to this country, you know? Say more. I'm Jack Schlossberg and yes, I am John F. Kennedy's grandson, but I am also Ed Schlossberg's kid who grew up in this district, whose grandpa was president of his temple up town, who is deeply from here, and I reject this whole dynasty business. We don't have dynasties in America. We have a democratic system of government. And John F. Kennedy and my family, you know, I consider my family to be my parents and my grandparents. And

you know, no one from that family has served in government uh since JFK was assassinated. And my mom was an ambassador. So, I think our I think, you know, I think people still really associate John F. Kennedy, my grandmother, my mom, my Uncle John. I think that they are still incredibly popular figures here in New York 12. Well, I think not only popular, but you know this, like the American public to this day is still really fascinated with the Kennedy family. It brings, you know, an immense amount of scrutiny. It also brings some privileged I wonder what you think about it all or do you even think about it that much?

I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't a major reason why I'm running. You know, President Trump has declared war on the progressive era and is trying to end it. And a lot of that is programs that started under President Kennedy. And he would have been the first to say that it represented the work of generations of Americans. President Kennedy drafted his White House drafted the Civil Rights Act. Trump made DEI illegal on day one. JFK sent a man to the moon and invested in science and technology. It made it the highest national priority. Trump has, you know, rescinded the national climate change finding and fired all the scientists at the EPA. My uncle Teddy fought for

health care and immigration reform. Trump is using ICE to deport millions of people. The differences could not be more stark. And that represents the work of generations of Americans who sacrificed for this country. And I'm not going to sit here and let some guy, all these macho guys, just upend it without anyone fighting back. And I think the only thing that's going to ever work for a progressive agenda, only thing that's ever worked in the past or in the future is going to be the energy and creativity of the new generation stepping up and leading. Well, thinking about older generations in the Kennedy family, probably the most prominent Kennedy in American politics right now is your cousin RFK Jr. You've

made it no secret where you stand on him. But I wonder what you think his rise says about the Kennedy family legacy today. You know, it shows how popular a president, um, our family name is. But I think it also shows the power that billionaires and ultra-wealthy mega-donors can have on our system by using propaganda to brainwash people. And that's exactly what RFK Jr., Trump have done. RFK Jr., you know, was a false flag operation running as a Democrat in the beginning back by Timothy Mellon with hundreds of millions of dollars. And then converted those voters into Trump voters at the end when Trump promised him a cabinet position

and he endorsed him. And we're seeing the manipulation and misinformation of voters at a all-time scale now that we have these tech companies and oligarchs who are aligned with Trump. And I just want to remind people that there's strong evidence in this race that Alex Boras and Mike Galagher are doing the same thing by paying for bots and content creators and not disclosing them and manipulating people with misinformation in this campaign with negative attacks on me in the same way Republicans have been doing for a long time. We all got really freaked out in 2016 about Russian disinformation campaigns and using the internet to sow dissent among the American public. Well, you know, that issue has now reached

within the Democratic Party itself. We know Tom Steyer has been doing this out in California and we also know that the same pages that Tom Steyer was using to spread disinformation about his opponents, my opponents are using to spread disinformation about me here in this race and no one's reporting on it, which except for me. You're talking about him right now. I am curious, when is the last time you and RFK Jr. spoke? I had a dream about him the other night, but before that it was when I was about 16.

Uh what was the dream about? He was saying good job, you're going to win and everyone's really freaked out about it up here. Really? Oh, yeah. Any psychoanalysis you want to do of that right now? Well, when I right before I passed the bar exam, I had a dream where he told me I was going to pass the bar exam, so it's all good. So, he's kind of like a good news prophet for you. Yeah. Yeah, he also told me that Mike Galagher and Alex Boras were paying people to spread hate speech about me online. All right, I'm I'm going to go take this to HHS comms and see what they have to say about that. I want to talk a little bit about um

what you might do in Congress. You've called for impeaching President Trump. What do you think Democrats accomplish by impeaching him twice in his first term? Well, unfortunately, we don't have a choice here, and that's how I see it. We have to have the confidence to do two things at once. That's hold Trump accountable and pass legislation to help the American people and people we serve here in our districts. The reason why I say we don't have a choice is because I can't think of anything more demoralizing as a Democrat or as an American than to watch all this go down for the last 2 years.

The jet from Qatar, the tariffs, the contracts in Kazakhstan for the Trump kids, the cryptocurrency, all the lying, the Department of Justice investigations, the lawsuits against law firms to silence them and make sure that they can't do any pro bono work, the defamation lawsuits, the ICE agents, these attacks on the First Amendment, all of this and win back Congress and then think that we're not strong enough to actually do anything about it. I think if we want to get anything done, we have to do this because otherwise all of our credibility's gone. But, what do you think impeaching him now would do, especially given getting votes for an actual conviction would be a huge uphill climb?

Well, first of all, we don't even know what he's going to do in these elections yet. So, I mean, there's no reason to think that we're not going to win big. We don't have a choice. He broke the law a million times, and we need to stand up for the rule of law in this country. Bribery is specifically listed in the Constitution as grounds for impeachment. He's trading from behind the Oval Office 100 times a day. I stock portfolio. Like right before huge government contracts are announced. This stuff is like unbelievable, and if we don't lay out the facts for the American people, then history is going to judge

us very, very harshly. There are a lot of Democrats that are really resistant to going down that road again. What do you say to your peers? Get me in a room with them. What are you going to do? I'm going to tell them what I just told you, which is if we don't do this, it's not a choice between whether we do this or whether we pass other laws to help people with grocery bills and gas prices and the rest. We have to do both. If you don't do both and you let all of this go, then we don't have a leg to stand on and we're going to completely fracture and we're not going to have a party anymore. Because people want to see the rule of

law be upheld in this country. And if we don't do it, if we make the active choice after winning back Congress not to do that, then no one will have any faith in us regardless of what we do. One issue that Democrats have really been wrestling with is Israel. There's been a lot of attention on your position on the issue of Israel. My colleague Jason Beeferman reported on comments you made in May when you said that you were quote a stronger supporter of Israel than you ever thought you would be. Your colleague Jason Beeferman did a hatchet job for the Boris campaign with that article. I and I told him as much myself. My position on Israel has been

this has been this is the same no matter who I talk to and I am very proud to be the only candidate running for office in this race who is willing to talk about this issue and say anything critical of the Israeli government whatsoever. My position, however, has changed as it has for AOC, for Bernie and for the rest of the Democratic Party following the Iran war. Right now, my position and for the last several months since I announced it has been I am against sending offensive weapons to Israel. I am for funding the Iron Dome. And I have said that exact same thing to every room that I've been in and I feel more sympathetic and more support for Israel now, yes, than ever before because

exactly because I for the reasons why I'm so upset about what's going on here in America. And that is the Israelis who are being put at risk by their own government, who hate what's going on, who's who are now enemies of many countries in the world who were once their allies, who are now increasingly isolated and alone. I feel for them, and my heart breaks for them, just as it breaks for the Palestinians who have been killed by an Israeli government that has gone above and beyond proportionality. And I think we need to speak with nuance and empathy on this issue, otherwise it's going to spin out of control. And the rhetoric on this issue on both sides is getting so hot, and I want to be somebody who is willing

to speak with nuance, because there's a large Jewish community here who needs to be represented, and have their voices heard, and people need to understand that it is not a black and white issue where we can say that it is good against evil. We have to have the wherewithal and courage to call out Israel for its offenses and its humanitarian crimes. And we also have to remain empathetic and soft enough within to say, I bet there are a lot of people in Israel right now who hate what's going on, too, who are who have been made so much less safe by their own government. Can you imagine how they feel? Just to be clear, I we do stand behind Jason and his reporting, but I wonder, just given how polarizing this issue is,

you mentioned nuance. Like, do you think voters welcome nuance on this? Yes, I think when I talk about Israel, I try to talk about this as much as possible. A lot of people try to avoid this. I try to talk about it as much as I can, because what does it say when politicians are scared to even touch an issue? I think that's a bad sign. That's why I say, look, I'm someone who believes in Israel's right to exist, believes they had to defend themselves after October 7th, and who also believes what they have done in the years since then has gone way too far. And that because they are friend, we have to strongly be able to criticize our friends and change our own military policy because we are America and that

is the country that the Congress is in charge of running and that's why the US should have no nothing to do with the offensive campaigns that Israel's waging right now because they are because we can't have any part in this warmaking. My opponents don't say that. Jason B Furman doesn't criticize their positions. They don't even answer the question. When they're asked about what Israel should do you know what the US policy on Israel should be they say we need to force the Leahy laws. Well, the Leahy laws give Donald Trump and Marco Rubio full discretion over what is a humanitarian crime. I don't see Jason B Furman pressing them on that issue.

Jason B Furman's a great reporter who pressures a lot of folks but let me just ask like you [snorts] mentioned Democrats are scared of this. Why do you think Democrats are having such a hard time finding their way on this and why do you think so many do avoid answering the question? I don't know. I think we should be leaning into the things that make us most uncomfortable because otherwise we're seating a lot of issues to the other side. I know that the internet is a big part of what's going on here and I know that I have experienced this

dynamic unfolding and has been pointed at me. I'm the most progressive on this issue in the entire race and yet there are countless bot attacks on my Instagram feed claiming that I am being paid for by AIPAC that I support genocide that I am a Zionist. They say incredibly hateful anti-Semitic things all over my page no matter what I post about and there's strong evidence to suggest that a lot of this has been paid for by my opponents. Um and so I think a big reason why a lot of this is happening is because bad actors are using this issue to drive extreme rhetoric online with stuff that looks like it's organic crowd sourced uh ground swell activity, but it's actually paid for by

networks and bots by bad acting political actors here in America. It's not necessarily just our foreign adversaries that we have to be aware of right now, and that's the scariest thing about this time in American politics. Do you think the Democratic Party is in the middle of a permanent shift on Israel? I think that you know, it remains to be seen who we elect and the kind of choices that they make. I hope to be somebody who can help us come together on this issue and find a path forward that we can all be proud of that puts peace at the forefront and human rights and not get tricked by the Trump administration and let them carry the banner of freedom and peace while we sit and argue amongst ourselves.

You mentioned so many of these conversations are happening online. You are one of the few young male Democrats with genuine cultural reach. When you think about the young male voter, why do you think so many young men have drifted towards Republicans over the last political cycle? Well, I think that Democrats have been very risk averse. We've been scared to use our sense of humor. We've been scared to just say things and speak from the heart. And I think that all young people, especially young men, can tell the difference between someone who's being authentic and someone who's being not. Unfortunately, we just haven't been present enough online. And so the vacuum's been filled I think by a lot of right-wing voices who use their sense of humor to

win people over and they're actually deserve a lot of credit even though they're often times lying and often times playing on misogynist tropes or using bigoted language to try to win over young male voters. They're out there trying. Democrats have been nowhere to be found. Um, and I don't suggest that we imitate any of those uh devices, but we have to be out there advocating on these platforms or else we're just seating them to the other side. I imagine this will be part of your answer to my next question, but you campaigned for Biden and Harris in 2024. What do you think that campaign and Democrats in the '24 cycle got wrong?

What didn't we get wrong? I mean, what a disaster. It starts just so much earlier than that. We couldn't have The die was cast pretty early on. I mean, Joe Biden had so many huge victories that nobody knew about because we weren't out there talking about it. And we weren't messaging it early on, and we let the Republicans invest in new media. And then by the time we got 100 days out with an exciting candidate and tried to use social media, it was a little bit late. Um, and I think in general we speak in vague abstractions. We talk about freedom and democracy, which of course we all support and care about, but we need to talk specifically about the plans that we want to provide the American people with and the legislation

that we want to pass. It made me really optimistic, to be honest, that experience just because I found so many people who were ready, willing, and completely able to be involved in politics, and they just were waiting to be activated and spoken to. Do you think the administration's position and how the Biden White House handled Israel-Gaza played a role in that in the '24 election? Yeah, I think there are a ton of different things that went into this. Um, yes, I do. I also think though that had the administration been more present and able to explain what they were doing on that issue to the American people in contrast

to what the president Trump has been doing on this issue that people would understand um the difference and all the efforts that the Biden administration actually did make to try to make things better there. Of course, they could have done more, but I think that um just a vacuum was filled by the strongest critics of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party. And unfortunately, it's really hard to change people's minds once a certain narrative sets in. So then what's the biggest lesson? Like what do Democrats need to learn for '26 and especially for '28? Well, we haven't learned it here in New York 12. I mean, the whole other campaigns here and the whole uh the institutions in the city are trying to do everything they can to keep people

from running for office who offer any other type of perspective than the one that has approved by the institutions here. And I think the lesson is going to be um taught by the fact that our campaign's going to win here and campaigns around the country who are doing things differently are going to win. And the old ways are completely out. Don't work anymore. You can't just ask a billionaire for $20 million and get elected to Congress anymore, unfortunately. I was thinking about you um when I was watching the UFC spectacle at the White House. And I was like, I wonder what Jack would think. Because, you know, watching the coverage from some in the media, there was a lot of criticism. But for from

Democrats specifically. But like do you think that something like that is something that Democrats should scoff at? Or is there something to be learned from the way that Trump kind of uses those cultural with What's wrong with athletics? We got it Like what Why are we making an enemy out of things? I'm not a personally a huge UFC watcher, but that doesn't mean that those people aren't incredible athletes. Why are we criticizing things people work really hard at? Why can't we just celebrate the things that we like, too? Democrats are just way too against everything, and I'm I'm not that kind of person. I'm way more focused on things that I'm for. The only thing I'm really strongly against is the fact that my

opponents are trying to sell New York 12 to Republican billionaires. That's something I'm definitely against. I think I know your answer to this next question, but I will have a follow-up. Um who do you think best represents the future of the Democratic Party? Me. Yeah, I had a feeling that would be the answer. And I'm not just being facetious. I mean, I'm I don't think me not because of me personally, me because of new way of doing things and anyone who's thinking differently and trying to run without big money and run on their ideas and who is trying to make super pack a disqualifier. People like who are running campaigns like that are the future of the Democratic Party. People

who are focusing on corruption both uh in the Republican Party and in the Democratic Party. Those are the people who are the future of America. you see do you see others doing it or do you think that there's it's you alone right now? Maxwell Frost is doing it. No, not me alone. There are plenty of people who are doing this around the country. Um and you're going to be hearing their names more and more. But I'm here to talk about Jack for New York because early voting has already started here, and we're 8 days away from election day. It has. It is next Tuesday. The polls show a pretty competitive race right now. I know your plan is to win. But given everything you said about the party and what needs to change, I do

wonder if you don't end up going to Congress, have you thought about how much you want to stay involved in politics? I'm I'm going to win. I just I don't I'm going to win. I had a feeling that was going to be a dead end of a question, but that still reveals a lot. Um did the Knicks win change the dynamic for your campaign? Yeah, the when the Knicks won, I mean anyone who thought that the next should win is going to vote Jack. And anyone who's happy that they did win is going to vote Jack. And apparently, a lot of the Knicks are voting for Jack.

So, I don't know. I think it's going to help. I think it can't hurt. Have you heard that directly from the source? Who on the Knicks is voting for Jack? a lot of people I've heard from a lot of people are saying the starting five are all voting for Jack. That sounds a little bit familiar. Um I just want to give you a moment for people who are still undecided. Like your very short like two sentence closing argument. We need a politics right now where we elect people we can trust who aren't bought and paid for. And our campaign is the only campaign that doesn't have a super PAC spending millions of dollars for us funded by a Republican

billionaire. And beyond that, we need to make people believe in government again. If we don't have the confidence as Democrats to think that we can hold Trump accountable and allow people to deduct their rent from their taxes, get rid of corruption, and make groceries more affordable, then we get the government we deserve. We need to elect fighters to Washington who understand the new media environment that we're in. And New York 12 really deserves somebody who can elevate the profile of this district and harness all of the creative energy that we have here into political power in Washington. And that's something that excites me. And I run a campaign that's done just that. And ultimately, this is our last chance

to stop Trump. You know, we're never going to get this opportunity again. And if we elect people who are going to fade into the background, then we're not going to be able to do anything about it. All right. Jack Schlossberg, thank you so much for your time today. Dasha Burns, you're the coolest. Thank you very much. Alex Boras' campaign called Schlossberg's claim about purchasing social media bots to post negative comments on Schlossberg's online presence, quote, "categorically untrue."

Michael Lasher's campaign also denied any involvement in the bots. This has It's the conversation with Dasha Burns. We've loved hearing from you, our audience. Please keep your questions and comments coming by leaving us a voicemail or text at 202-643-1536. We'll be back next week. If you want to catch future episodes of The Conversation, be sure to click that subscribe button below. Thanks for watching.