I’ll be candid and admit that I’ve always been a bit lukewarm on the Kennedy political family. The old man was a bootlegging Nazi sympathizer, I’d give JFK an incomplete as president (obviously, no fault of his own) and his brother Robert owed his position as Attorney General to an unforgivable nepotism. I greatly admire what Teddy accomplished as a senator, but he really shouldn’t have had a political career after Chappaquiddick. Plus, by any measure, his treatment of women was deplorable.
The Kennedys do represent a kind up-from-your-bootstraps noblesse oblige that I find appealing, but I don’t have a ton of patience for the way they’re mythologized as paragons of liberalism. In any case, I don’t have much use for political dynasties whether they’re named Kennedy or Bush or Clinton. That’s probably why I didn’t get excited when I learned that Joe Kennedy was abandoning his House seat to challenge Sen. Ed Markey. From what I’ve seen, Joe Kennedy is a perfectly fine congressman, but Ed Markey is one of the better people we have in the Senate. It didn’t seem like the left would be gaining much, if anything, from making this swap.
Since he entered the Senate in 2013 after a 37-year career in the House, Markey has mostly distinguished himself for his strong leadership on climate. He’s still basically a backbencher with no real power, but that would be same for Kennedy, just with seven fewer years of seniority. I don’t live in Massachusetts but, if I did, the seniority issue would be an important consideration because Elizabeth Warren is actually the junior senator there and may soon leave for a position in the Biden administration. The prospect of having two freshmen senators is a far cry from having lifers like Teddy and John Kerry chairing important committees.
Truth be told, however, I don’t think it would necessarily be a bad thing if Kennedy won this primary. If reelected, Markey would 80 by the end of his term. It’s quite possible that the 40 year-old Kennedy would use the example of his great uncle Teddy to craft a long and excellent record in the Senate. I don’t really care who wins this thing, except that I think Markey deserves to be reelected. I’d feel badly for him if he lost.
It’s interesting that Markey’s support is being driven by younger voters who are responding to his association with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Green New Deal. Kennedy is banking on winning more working class voters in communities like Lowell.
It’s also interesting that the Kennedy clan waited until it looked almost certain that Joe would lose before putting their backs into helping his campaign. Now their mystique is on the line, and it’s not looking good.
Just two years ago, Joe Kennedy’s star was so bright that he was asked to deliver the Democratic Party’s response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Now, if he can’t turn things around before Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate primary, he’ll be out of politics.
A handful of recent polls show the 39-year-old congressman trailing incumbent Sen. Ed Markey — the septuagenarian incumbent whose campaign is improbably powered by younger progressive voters. Among voters under the age of 35, one of those polls reports, Markey is leading Kennedy by an almost 2-to-1 margin.
As I stated above that I’m ambivalent about the Kennedy dynasty, which also means that I have mixed feelings about the prospect of seeing them take a huge defeat on their home turf. My anti-dynastic disposition welcomes such a scenario, but I actually do value the family and what they’ve accomplished and sacrificed for the country.
We’ll find out what happens on Tuesday. The Kennedy campaign acknowledges they are behind in the early voting, but they’re hoping to make up the deficit with a big turnout on Election Day. If I were voting, I’d cast my ballot for Markey, but I don’t see a big win or big loss no matter how it turns out.
Comments are closed.