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US Congressman Joe Kennedy has been defeated in his bid for a seat in the United States Senate, the first time the American political dynasty lost a state election in Massachusetts.
Current Senator Ed Markey, a veteran politician who re-presented himself as the fierce liberal on the run, harnessed the progressive energy of the state to reject a challenge from Joseph Kennedy III, the great-nephew of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy, 39, said he “called Senator Markey to congratulate him and pledge my support for him and his campaign in the coming months.”
With votes still counted, Mr. Markey led 53.5% to 46.5%.
“Obviously, these results are not what we expected,” Kennedy said.
Since he is not allowed to be on the ballot as a candidate for both the House and the Senate, Mr. Kennedy is not running for re-election to his House seat. In January, there will be no one from the Kennedy clan in elected office.
Robert F Kennedy’s grandson is part of the fourth generation of the family to carry the political torch, entering the House of Representatives in 2013.
After his loss, he told his supporters that together they “built a campaign for workers of all colors and creeds, who carry the economic injustice of this country behind their backs.”
At 74, his rival is a generation away, a progressive political workhorse who spent 37 years in the House before ascending to the Senate in 2013.
For the Kennedys, the stakes were high. For all but two years since 1947, almost a third of the history of the United States, a Kennedy has held an elective office.
Like his presidential great-uncle, Joe Kennedy III delivered on the promise of a new generation.
And he had received the rare endorsement of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who in 2018 appointed him to give the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Markey, who framed his candidacy on a liberal and anti-establishment platform, also has powerful supporters.
They include Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with whom Markey co-authored the Green New Deal on fighting climate change.
Mr. Markey is virtually assured of victory in the November general election; only two Republicans have won US Senate seats from Massachusetts in the last half century.
The Democratic National Convention last month hinted that the Kennedys may have a political future, when it relayed a video message from JFK’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy and her 27-year-old son, Jack Kennedy Schlossberg.
“We can reach these new frontiers, but only with a president who asks what he can do for our country,” Schlossberg said, echoing his grandfather’s 1961 acceptance speech when he said, “Don’t ask what your country can do for you. ”
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