Chris Pollak’s Campaign Sparks Fear and Drives People Away from Jackson Township
Chris Pollak, a candidate for the Jackson Township council, continues trashing Jackson, causing businesses and prospective homebuyers to look elsewhere.
There’s no denying Jackson Township has a growth problem, but like others who came before him—such as Jackson Strong and Rise Up Ocean County—one candidate running for office is scaring the hell out of anyone who wants to move to and invest in Jackson Township through his race-baiting political rhetoric and constant doomscrolling about the wonderful town of Jackson, NJ.
Pollak, who is seeking office, is using fear-peddling, a tactic used by those now-defunct groups whose many members have since left town. Pollak’s viral rants, like those that came before, might inspire people to vote for him in November, but he might not realize this has all been done before. Each time it led to heartache, pain, and lawsuits for Jackson Township.
Fear and Division Spread Through Social Media
Pollak uses words like “they” and “them” to describe Jews. He says Jackson should be for the “people who live here.”
Each day, he rants three to four times on TikTok and social media about how bad life in Jackson is. Like those who came before him, his soapbox grandstanding is having an impact. The very same non-Jewish young families Pollak wants to see moving into town are the same young non-Jewish families Pollak is scaring away.
It’s not just Jackson either. Candidates running for office in other towns are using fear peddling to scare voters in their direction. In Brick Township, one candidate is using a similar platform as Pollak to drive fear and anger into voters on election day to for her.
“I was thinking of moving to Jackson from Bayonne next year, but I get this guy’s videos, and he’s scaring the hell out of us. We were also always told Jackson has a great school system by friends who moved years ago, but, no thank you, I’m not moving to a town that’s a total mess,” said one person in an email in response to our coverage of Pollak.
“The guy might have the best intentions, but we’re having a hard time finding employees lately. One even told us that there’s no way they’re driving through Jackson. He said he follows Pollak online and gets his videos in his Facebook feed daily. ‘That town’s a mess, I’ll take a job closer to home,’” said another business owner, saying the online fear peddling and complaints about traffic and overdevelopment are starting to influence job seekers too.
Realtors Report Flood in New Listings and Buyer Hesitation: People are Leaving Town Faster Than Ever Since March
Pollak’s fear-peddling is also causing more non-Jewish families to put their houses on the market. Local realtors are chiming in.
August saw an unprecedented spike in homes listed for sale in the township, and many realtors fear the increase is being driven by Pollak’s negative viral TikTok videos that are spreading like wildfire throughout the state.
“Unfortunately, social media does impact trends,” said one Howell-based realtor who recently expanded into Jackson several years ago. “We aren’t seeing this in other towns like Jackson. While more inventory is usually good, we’re having problems finding buyers, and many of those listings are going to Lakewood-based realtors who have waiting lists of prospective buyers from that community.”
Pollak is creating a buyer’s market for young Orthodox families from New York City and other places who are looking to join the growing community. Unfortunately, his rhetoric is scaring away most other prospective buyers. They are no longer competing against non-Orthodox Jewish families from North Jersey and New York City who are simply not looking to move to Jackson these days.
According to the New Jersey Association of Realtors, this year Jackson saw a 200% year-over-year increase in homes being put on the market, noting that the upward trend began to emerge in May, two months after Pollak’s videos started going viral.
A year over year comparison shows that in 2025, three times more homes are being put on the market than in 2024 each month and that trend shows no sign of slowing down.
In September, Jackson saw an additional 6.2% increase in homes on the market compared to 2024 and previous years. Pollak’s daily rants about the degraded quality of life in Jackson, a so-called “Jewish takeover,” Hispanic families moving into residential communities, and his outlandish claims about the town being in decline are tarnishing the township’s reputation on a state and even national level.
Political Rhetoric Damaging the Town’s Reputation
It’s going to be hard for Pollak to convince people to move to Jackson once the election is over. A simple “I was just politicking” isn’t going to undo the damage he has done. Pollak says the solution is for a government that only caters to people “who are from here,” a dog whistle used by past groups to identify Jews.
Now, Pollak has expanded that dog whistle to include multi-family Hispanic households, which he claims are being placed in neighborhood housing as a form of blockbusting by “Jewish-owned” LLCs.
Although Pollak complains daily on his soapbox, one thing he hasn’t done is propose any legal options to stop some of the problems he mentions. Pollak said he wants the municipality to define “family,” a move that has been proven unconstitutional—particularly after his own rhetoric has identified Hispanic multi-family units as the driving motivation behind his proposed legislation, should he win in November.
The New Jersey Supreme Court has clearly ruled in State v. Baker by invalidating an ordinance prohibiting more than four unrelated persons from living together.
The court grounded its decision in the state’s substantive due process doctrine developed in earlier exclusionary zoning cases. Baker extends that doctrine to include a prohibition against the exclusion of groups constituting bona fide households from single-family districts.
Pollak’s videos also slam the Jackson School Board, which has been forced to sell two schools in recent years, including his own young child’s Rosenauer Elementary School. He has blasted school officials as corrupt and “on the take,” even accusing some board members of pocketing money from the sale—a wild and unproven accusation.
Residents Speak Out Against the Damage
“When young families from urban areas are looking for a better place to raise their children, they see these videos online in their feeds and think twice about Jackson. His videos are having the exact opposite effect. He’s not fighting for Jackson; he’s fighting Jackson and everything good our community stands for,” said one teacher at the new Jackson Township High School, who likewise did not want to be identified because she fears Pollak would create a video about her if she spoke out publicly.
His opponent in the election, Al Couceiro, said that some of the problems Pollak talks about are out of Jackson’s immediate control. Couceiro said that Pollak’s beef shouldn’t be with his neighbors in his new community but with the state lawmakers and Governor Phil Murphy.
State Policy and Overdevelopment Challenges
Couceiro has been clear that while Pollak blames local officials for all the problems, the underlying factors causing those problems are not unique to Jackson. Governor Murphy has cut state funding to the Jackson School District, leading to a budget crisis. He has also declared New Jersey a sanctuary state amid a housing shortage. That shortage is forcing migrant families to seek multi-family housing in towns across New Jersey.
As for overdevelopment, Couceiro has been strongly opposed to New Jersey’s affordable housing mandate, which essentially strips local municipalities of their ability to stop overdevelopment. Although Pollak continues to bash his town for overdevelopment, he conceded this week that even he can’t stop it.
“I’m not stupid. I know we can’t stop overdevelopment,” he said during an interview with the Champ and the Champ podcast.
Pollak used that interview to blame all of Jackson’s problems on “Lakewood,” “Orthodox Jews,” and “corrupt” local government officials.
Pollak, who now accuses Couceiro of being “part of the corruption,” dismissed the former superhero’s claims.
Couceiro’s Closing Message to Voters
“I will hold our new mayor’s feet to the fire,” Couceiro said. “My path is a path of accountability but real results for Jackson. My opponent’s plan will get zero results but chaos and noise. True fighting for Jackson will be accomplished through tough conversations and real efforts. Jackson can’t afford 12 months of chaos! Compare my 30 years of experience in Jackson to my opponent, who just moved here.”