Why, exactly, did Nancy Pelosi sign Joe Kennedy III?


Therefore, Nancy Pelosi (California) decides to rep. Joe Kennedy III to agree in his disputed primary against sen. Ed Markey is so, so interesting.

“Never before have the times required us to elect courageous leaders like today. That’s why I’m proud to support Joe Kennedy for the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said in a distinguished video released by Kennedy’s campaign Thursday. “Massachusetts and America need the courage and leadership of Joe Kennedy in the Senate to fight for the change we need.”

What, uh, OK. But Pelosi’s statement clarifies the “why” behind her decision. Why support not only a sitting U.S. senator, but someone who is loved under Pelosi’s base on the liberal left? After all, Markey has distinguished himself from liberal superstars like Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren and Reporter from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

0 moderate introducers.

“No one gets to complain about primary challenges again,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez soon broke the news of Pelosi’s distinction. “So @dccc, when can we expect you to reverse your blacklist policies against primary organizations?”

Now Pelosi is a very, very smart politician. She knew that supporting Kennedy over Markey with less than two weeks before the two-square-foot in a Sept. 1 primary would primarily draw a lot of heat to her – and most of the liberals involved in Markey’s cause in the race have promised.

And yet, she did it anyway. Which brings me back to the central question: Why?

There’s some hint of the answer in what an aide for Pelosi told CNN. Here it is:

A Pelosi charity told CNN that Kennedy did not ask for the distinction, but that the speaker felt compelled as a result of the work of Congressman in the 2018 election cycle that played a key role in Democrats’ efforts to to take back the House. “

Note that Kennedy was named Vice-Chairman of the party’s campaign committee by Pelosi at the start of the 2018 midterm election cycle – thanks in large part to his ability to raise money from national Democratic donors by tent. of his famous surname. (His grandfather is the late screenwriter Robert F. Kennedy of New York; his father, Joe Kennedy II, held a congressional seat in Massachusetts for more than a decade.)

In that role, Kennedy raised more than $ 5 million for aspiring Democratic candidates – part of a broader effort that allowed Democrats to regain a majority in the House in November 2018.

There is no question that Pelosi feels loyalty to Kennedy for the help he – with his name and his travel schedule – gave during the 2018 campaign. And it’s not entirely unreasonable to ask whether Kennedy mentioned at some point in that election cycle that he could challenge Markey in the primary 2020, and he could depend on Pelosi’s signing as he did? Back in September 2019, the Boston Globe wrote this headline, after all: “Goodwill with Democrats nationwide could help Joe Kennedy III clash with Ed Markey.”

What else would explain Pelosi’s willingness to take on this fight, one that no doubt diminishes in the eyes of some liberals, probably in and out of Congress? There’s no significant difference politically between Kennedy and Markey – a fact that even Kennedy speaks in general, and instead chose to focus on him being a much younger candidate (Kennedy is 39, Markey is 74) who ‘ t would take a more aggressive approach to representing the state in the First Chamber.

Aside from the fact that Pelosi has agreed to help Kennedy in his next political steps back in 2018, it is difficult to understand why she would deliberately address the anger of an important part of her party.

And in politics, the obvious answer is usually the right one.

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