Democrats Protect Sen. Ed Markey Against Insurgent Challenge By Rep. Joe Kennedy
“it seems that magic is starting to wear off 10 years after the last Kennedy to hold a Senate seat, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), died while in office”
Rep. Joe Kennedy III may end up regretting his decision to abandon his safe seat in Congress to pursue an insurgent campaign against Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
Members of his party have lined up to back Markey.
Alexander Bolton writes at The Hill:
Democrats unifying against Joe Kennedy Senate bid
Senate Democrats are nearly united in their opposition to Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), the scion of their party’s most fabled family, in his bid to unseat Sen. Ed Markey (D).
Kennedy, a 39-year-old graduate of Harvard Law School, is putting his political career on the line by taking on a Democratic incumbent who has been a fixture in Congress since 1976. His campaign also marks the best hope of putting a Kennedy back in the Senate or White House in the foreseeable future.
The Kennedy name has captivated Democrats going back 60 years, when John F. Kennedy ushered in the era of Camelot by winning the 1960 presidential election.
But it seems that magic is starting to wear off 10 years after the last Kennedy to hold a Senate seat, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), died while in office…
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chairwoman Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) are solidly behind Markey.
“We’ve endorsed him publicly. We will be there to work with him and his team to ensure that they have the resources they need to get his message out,” said Masto. “The state in general knows he’s a progressive and a fighter on so many issues. He’s taken a lead on net neutrality and climate change, on so many important issues that matter to his constituents.”
It’s not just Schumer who is coming to Markey’s defense. The list of people backing Markey reads like a whos-who of Democrat legislators.
Christian M. Wade writes at The Salem News:
Democrats divided over Markey-Kennedy race
So far, Markey appears to be leading in the endorsement race, with his reelection bid picking up nods from Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, state Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, state House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and State Auditor Suzanne Bump, among others.
To be sure, Markey’s campaign has touted a list of more than 100 current state senators and representatives who have endorsed his re-election bid.
They include many of the lawmakers who represent the north of Boston region — including Sens. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, Barry Finegold, D-Andover, and Reps. Linda Campbell, D-Methuen, Paul Tucker, D-Salem, Frank Moran, D-Lawrence, Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, and Tom Walsh, D-Peabody.
Lovely said she has collaborated with Markey over the years on legislative and constituent-related issues and has developed a good working relationship.
“I’m not opposed to Joe Kennedy — I really don’t know him — but I have to go with my experience and what I know,” she said. “A big piece of what we do as legislators is dealing with people who call for help, and Sen. Markey and his office have been extremely responsive to my constituents.”
Kennedy is taking a huge risk here because it’s not like he can go back if he fails. There are already six people competing to take his place in Congress.
Darren Sands reports at BuzzFeed:
Ayanna Pressley Has Endorsed In The Crowded House Race To Replace Joe Kennedy III
Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley is endorsing against a House Democratic colleague and in her state’s crowded Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Joe Kennedy III.
Pressley on Tuesday announced she intends to support Jesse Mermell, a progressive activist, in the crowded race to replace Kennedy, who is running for Senate. Mermell is a former nonprofit administrator who served as a top aide to former Gov. Deval L. Patrick.
The move makes good on Pressley’s promise to enter the political fray ahead of the 2020 elections, while immediately changing the landscape of what is shaping up to be one of the more hotly contested House Democratic primaries in the country. The seat became open when Kennedy, who has held the seat since 2012, announced he would challenge Sen. Ed Markey. All told, there are six candidates running for Kennedy’s seat.
Perhaps the most stinging part of this story is coming from AOC. Kennedy is working with Joe Crowley, the Democrat Ocasio-Cortez beat in 2018, and she is now using her influence against Kennedy.
Amazing.
Team @AOC sends out a scathing email blast about Joe Kennedy’s big money fundraisers on behalf of Green New Deal co-author Ed Markey.
See, establishment types? It’s not about primaries for the sake of primaries. It’s about the *policy.* Not that hard to grasp! pic.twitter.com/BDAzxvDffq
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) October 7, 2019
Kennedy could still surprise everyone and pull this off, but he is fighting an uphill battle. He would have been wise to wait a little longer.
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Comments
Can’t they all lose?
Markey is an imbecile. However that sits him well in the Democratic caucus.
“Get your ofay paddyass on down the road.”
Clint Eastwood.
Is Markey still a senator? Damn, he was a senator back in in the eighties. He was anti-nuclear back then. I wonder what he’s against these days.
No, he was not a senator back in the eighties. Not on this planet, anyway. He’s only been in the senate for six years.
He was a House member since at least the 80’s maybe sooner. I used to work with his brother in law – who knew Markey was a phony and a fool.
snopercod | November 7, 2019 at 5:55 pm
I wonder what he’s against these days.
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I’ll take Pretty Much Anything Decent for $500 Alex.
Has Mr. Kennedy given up his Congressional seat? Wonder what the filing deadline date is for the election.
Those Kennedy peeps do like to take big leaps without looking first.
This one look like he just plain fell out of the Ugly Tree.
Even ugly by Kennedy Klan standards of ugly
Never underestimate the potential for the people in Massachusetts to be mesmerized by the Kennedy name. They kept on electing Uncle Teddy even after Chappaquiddick. Even if he loses, he gets to say that everybody else is a hypocrite backing an old guy who’s no longer effective just to circle the wagons.
Does he do those curly-Qs on his forehead with gel and tools?
… Mass: aka Cuba with snow(flakes)…
please nominate Liawatha and Sand(bag)ers as a team so the northeast can once again fail the demon-rats hopes again…
Dukakis times 2!
And it sets him up to run in 2022 for Warren’s seat.
Argh! this is the sort of stuff that makes living in Massachusetts so damned awful. Markey is awful, beyond description, to the extent that replacing him a stank-ass Kennedy would seem plausibile. But, geezzzz uzzzzzz keeeee ryst!
Deny the Kennedy, Markey is old, irrelevant and maybe he’ll have the decency to take flying lessons with Sheldon Whitehouse.
Does Sirhan have any grandchildren?
Not any good choices here. Markey is a carpetbagger who has lived in Chevy Chase, MD for his entire House tenure and rarely returned to Massachusetts but the numb brained robots pulled the “D” lever every time. The last thing the world needs in another Kennedy. Massachusetts gets the garbage they deserve, after all they gave us Fauxcahontas over Scott Brown and also gave us Mittens Romney.
Enough with these kennedy dumbshits.
As a long-term resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I can say with some authority that Markey may just be the biggest shit in Congress. I am aware of absolutely no redeeming qualities. I doubt that it’s physically possible for even a Kennedy to approach Markey’s systemic awfulness.
AOC is against him.
Hmmm. Hmmm.
OK, lesser of two evils then, go for a corrupt kennedy.
No way Mr. Frosty beats a Kennedy. Eddie is old and out of touch. Plus he lives full time in Maryland. Joe-Joe will use all of this against Ed Markey.
Markey is a POS. They must know something we don’t to stand in the way of a young Kennedy.
A Kennedy running for office? I thought we’d crossed that bridge.