JACKSON, N.J. – A local karate instructor and small business owner, Chris Pollak, has launched a campaign for Jackson Township Council — but his past ties to a radical anti-fascist group in New York City are drawing sharp scrutiny.
It’s a past he’s trying to ignore as the election in one of New Jersey’s most conservative towns heats up.
Pollak, who owns the Hybrid Combat Karate school, confirmed his run earlier this year in one of the most conservative towns in New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump won by wide margins in three consecutive elections.
His campaign slogan is “Fight for Jackson”, but a few years, ago he was active with a New York City gay pride group named “Fags fight Back”.
Now, resurfaced footage and online posts and videos show Pollak marching alongside a group known as “Fags Fight Back,” an activist collective that evolved from LGBTQ street defense roots into a politically charged anti-Trump organization which routinely calls Republicans Fascists.
A controversial activist history
Pollak’s history includes time with New York’s “Real Life Superheroes” movement, a group which has now been involved in multiple scandals involving pedophiles within their ranks. including groups such as Ronin and the New York Initiative — organizations that patrolled city streets dressed as vigilante-style crime fighters. Members of those groups confirmed this week that Pollak and his team often collaborated with Fags Fight Back at public events, including New York City’s annual Pride Parade.
Read more about pedophiles within Chris Pollak’s former superhero vigilante groups.
@shorenewsnetwork7 Chris Pollak for Jackson marches with anyi-fascist gay rights group in NYC Pride parade. @chrispollak02 ♬ Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.) – Coolio
A video posted to the group’s Facebook page appears to show Pollak swinging a bat in the air during the parade, while marching under anti-Trump banners. The New York Initiative later confirmed Pollak’s past involvement and ongoing ties with the organization.
From street activism to small-town politics
Pollak’s campaign presents him as a family-oriented entrepreneur focused on community safety and accountability. Yet his critics in Jackson — a township of 65,000 with a growing Orthodox Jewish population — accuse him of importing divisive “urban activism” into a town that has long leaned Republican and using leftist and marxist style campaigning similar to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to divide and incite residents of Jackson so he can win an election.
His opponent, Al Couceiro, a GOP candidate, called for unity amid what he described as “manufactured outrage.” “Our enemy is not our neighbor,” Couceiro said. “Our enemy is Trenton — the legislature that’s been hurting towns like ours for years.”
Divisions emerge as election nears
Couceiro has pledged to work with Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli to push back against what he calls “failed state policies” from Trenton, citing issues such as affordable housing mandates, school funding cuts, and housing shortages. Pollak, by contrast, has not endorsed a gubernatorial candidate and has used social media to criticize both state and local leaders, blaming them for policies he says are “hurting the township.”
His policies are more in line with Democrat Mikie Sherrill as he calls for rent control, gay rights, LBGTQ appreciation, and other policies that align with the Democrat party. Pollak continues to blame local Republicans for the New Jersey Democrat controlled government, headed by Phil Murphy, for affordable housing mandates, illegal immigration, a housing crisis, and school funding problems.
Silence over group affiliation
Pollak has not addressed questions about his past affiliation with Fags Fight Back or his time in the New York City Initiative. Former associates described him as a once “dedicated but volatile” activist who left several groups on poor terms and will resort to name calling an harassment whenever he doesn’t get his way.