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The great-nephew of assassinated US President John F Kennedy has been defeated in his bid to become a senator from Massachusetts.
Joseph Kennedy III, 39, had been the big favorite to win the nomination in the Democratic primary, but his loss to incumbent Edward Markey marks the first time a member of the Kennedy family has lost a vote in Congress in the state. .
Markey, 74, will run for another six-year term on November 3, where he is a favorite against the Republican main winner, Kevin O’Connor.
His victory is a victory for the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Senator Edward Markey aligned himself with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party
Kennedy is currently serving his fourth term in Congress.
After announcing that he would run for the Senate seat in September 2019, he received the endorsement of the speaker of the US House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi.
He had also delivered the Democratic response to the president Donald trumpState of the Union address in 2018.
But his own profile and his family’s legacy weren’t enough against Markey, a veteran politician who had teamed up with New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sponsoring the Green New Deal climate change initiative in Congress.
Kennedy labeled him “a progressive in name only” during the race.
During a celebration in his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts, Markey highlighted several of his priorities, including supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, a call for Medicare for All and fighting climate change, one of his biggest issues.
Speaking on climate change, Mr. Markey said: “No solution to any challenge will succeed unless we address it. There will be no peace, justice and prosperity unless we stop the march towards climate destruction. We must pass a Green New Deal. “
He called Trump “the most corrupt, most racist, and incompetent president in American history. We must banish his agenda of division and destruction to the history books.”
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Despite his defeat, Kennedy says he would work for Markey’s re-election in the November election, saying “the senator is a good man. You never heard me say otherwise.”
He added: “We may have lost the final vote count tonight, but we built a coalition that will endure,” suggesting that the movement of supporters who succeeded in his campaign would continue.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Kennedy used his family’s political legacy: he is the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, the assassinated aspiring president and JFK’s great-nephew. Edward Kennedy was a senator from Massachusetts for nearly half a century until his death in 2009.
Markey also drew on his family’s history: he grew up in the working-class town of Malden with a father who drove a truck for the Hood Milk Company.
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