End of a dynasty? Joe Kennedy defeated in US Senate bid

Congressman Joe Kennedy, long seen as a rising star in US politics, has crashed to defeat in his bid for a Senate seat.

Joe Kennedy III, great-nephew of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, outside a Boston polling station. Picture: AFP

Congressman Joe Kennedy, long seen as a rising star in US politics, has crashed to defeat in his bid for a Senate seat, the first time a member of the storied political dynasty has lost a statewide election in Massachusetts.

Incumbent senator Ed Markey, a political veteran who recast himself as the fiery liberal in the race, harnessed the state’s progressive energy to easily turn back a challenge from Mr ­Kennedy, the great-nephew of ­assassinated president John F. Kennedy.

For the Kennedy clan, there was much on the line. For all but two years since 1947 a Kennedy has served in elective office.

The 39-year-old Kennedy said he “called Senator Markey to congratulate him and to pledge my support to him and his campaign in the months ahead”.

With votes still being counted, Senator Markey was leading by 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent. ­“Obviously, these results are not the ones we were hoping for,” Mr Kennedy said.

The race pitted two well-liked progressives against one another, but it was Senator Markey’s organisational energy and appeal to the ascendant left that won out. “Tonight is more than just a celebration of an election, it is a celebration of a movement,” Senator Markey wrote on Twitter.

Since he is not allowed to be on the ballot for both the House and Senate, Mr Kennedy is not running for re-election to his House seat. Come January, there will be no one from the Kennedy clan in elected ­office.

The grandson of slain ­attorney-general Robert F. Kennedy is part of the family’s fourth generation to carry the political torch, entering the House of Representatives in 2013.

“Every race I’ve ever run, I’ve made it clear it’s me on the ballot,” Mr Kennedy said as he campaigned on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) in Boston. “You’re not going to get my father or my grandfather or any of his brothers or sisters. This is on me.”

After his loss he told supporters they had “built a campaign for working folks of every colour and creed, who carry the economic ­injustice of this country on their backs”.

At 74, his rival Senator Markey is a generation apart, a progressive political workhorse who spent 37 years in the House before rising to the Senate in 2013. He led Mr Kennedy in recent polling and was able to seal the deal with strong support in Boston and college towns such as Amherst.

The Kennedys are the quintessential American dynasty, one of the closest things the country has to royalty. Like his presidential great-uncle, the lanky, red-haired Kennedy ran on the promise of a new generation.

And he had received the rare endorsement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in 2018 ­appointed Mr Kennedy to deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech.

Senator Markey, who framed his candidacy on a liberal, anti-­establishment platform, has powerful supporters too.

They include senator Elizabeth Warren and rising star progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with whom Senator Markey co-authored the Green New Deal on tackling climate change.

AFP