Joe Kennedy III Now Trailing Ed Markey in MA Dem Senate Primary
“Markey leads Kennedy among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters 51 percent to 36 percent in the poll, with 12 percent undecided.”
United States Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has taken a significant lead over primary challenger Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA) in a closely watched race.
At the beginning of this, many people thought Kennedy would walk away with the nomination, but Markey has fought hard to retain his position. The primary takes place on September 1.
Zack Budryk writes at The Hill:
New poll shows Markey with wide lead over Kennedy in Massachusetts
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) leads primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) by double digits, according to a UMass/Amherst poll released Wednesday.
Markey leads Kennedy among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters 51 percent to 36 percent in the poll, with 12 percent undecided. When Democratic-leaning voters are removed from the sample, Markey expands his lead to 50 percent to 32 percent, but the percentage of undecideds also increases to 17 percent.
The poll’s results were considerably narrower in February, when Markey led Kennedy only 43 percent to 40 percent. Markey still led slightly but the margin separating the two was the same without leaners, 39 percent to 36 percent.
Asked which candidate they trusted to handle nine issues, respondents named Markey for all but one. A plurality of voters trusted him most to handle the economy, health care, taxes, education, climate change, President Trump, transportation and the coronavirus pandemic. Race relations are the only issue where Kennedy leads, 39 percent to 37 percent.
When I talk to people here in Massachusetts, pretty much everyone thinks Kennedy sees the United States Senate as little more than a stepping stone on his way to the White House. I have to wonder if that’s playing a role in his poll numbers.
Stephanie Murray of Politico has more on this:
Kennedy allies sweat as Massachusetts Senate race tightens
Joe Kennedy was once thought to be such a lock to defeat Sen. Ed Markey that there was widespread speculation in Massachusetts that Markey might just retire to avoid a humbling end.
But Markey is piling up endorsements and closing in on the young congressman in the polls by running a policy-heavy campaign that seems tailored for the moment. There’s growing sentiment that Kennedy underestimated the backlash he’d face for challenging the veteran incumbent, who has become beloved among progressives for his work on the Green New Deal.
“What Markey hadn’t done in the past was flex his muscles, flex his policy muscles.” said Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos. “Now he’s doing that and I think Kennedy is realizing policy runs deep in Massachusetts. Personality and persona are important too, but in Massachusetts policy runs very deep.”
Here are a couple of entertaining moments from their most recent debate:
After last night's incredible debate beatdown, I think @EdMarkey is Joe Kennedy's "fatha" ?
#TellYaFatha #BOSPoli pic.twitter.com/yTL64Jab1Z
— tamburlaine (@tamburlaine01) August 12, 2020
.@EdMarkey has passed over 500 laws, signed by Presidents. Joe Kennedy has 13, most of them, in Joe's own words, "Small and insignificant." #BOSpoli #MASen pic.twitter.com/zBGdwfW6E5
— tamburlaine (@tamburlaine01) August 12, 2020
I’m no fan of Markey, but I don’t believe Joe Kennedy III would even have a career in politics if his last name was “Smith.”
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Comments
Another Kennedy eager to make their post midnight rides bouncing off DC’s concrete barriers on his way to cast his vote in the House, only this time it will be the Senate.
Young Paddy blamed his erratic driving skills on the promethazine cough syrup his doctor had prescribed for him, forgetting about the quart of scotch and the alprazalalazams consumed just prior.
We don’t need any more dead Kennedys.
Make him self-isolate in a bunker.
Regarding that family? We don’t need any more LIVE ones. The only difference between them and the average drunkards and daredevils is that these ones can buy their way out.
Whether Kennedy loses this one or not, he’ll have another chance in 2024 when Granny Warren’s seat is in play. Kennedy’s blown some capital in going after Markey’s seat this round (“not his turn”); going after Warren in 2024 will get him the same criticism. He’ll suffer that since this boy intends to get himself into the White House. He’s doing just what Jack did.
We’ve had enough Kennedys of his ilk.
why do politicians still assume that the Senate is a springboard to the presidency? This almost never works out.
Go back through history, and you will see that if there’s a candidate who was a sitting senator, they almost always lose. Unless both candidates are senators like in 2008. You have a much better chance of going from governor to president or vice president to president.
1960/JFK is the last time a Senator won against someone who wasn’t a sitting senator, and that was close.
My theory is Senators become too much creatures of DC for the electorate.
Some sitting Senators did become president, but mostly they had executive experience before going to the looney-bin — I mean, the Senate.
JFK and Obama were two notable exceptions, and there’s reason to believe that had the Communist not assassinated Kennedy, he might have been defeated in 1964.
There is a joke in DC that House members want to join the Senate because senators get their phone calls returned.
Combine the 6-year terms vs. having to be constantly in cycle, being one of 100 instead of 435 (or 441 if you count the delegates), and the opportunity to get higher-up on committees and subcommittees a lot faster than if you’re in the House, and there is an appeal to move up. But with that extra influence comes the idea that yes indeed, you can run for POTUS one day because of how important you are.
Joe Kennedy has an IQ of about 80.
I am sure this is racist….. somehow…..
Wow, that’s like being in a vat of excrement and some start shooting at you so you duck.
What’s the difference between the two of them? Not much, I’d say.
Not another Kennedy! I hoped we were done with that bunch of entitled self loathing aristocrats.
More like self-aggrandizing or however it is spelled.
This is one of those vomit and vote moments. I despise Markey but not enough to let another goddamned Kennedy defile Massachusetts and besmirch the Senate more than it already is.
Kennedys, the sewer trout of Massachusetts.
Disclaimer: I’m not from MA. But part of me wonders if Joe is also having issues because the Kennedy name is no longer a source of tremendous amounts of adulation, a la the Camelot myth, because voters who automatically would vote for anyone with that name are much fewer in number as the years go on.
I say that because I’m late Gen X so for me the Kennedys are known more for scandals, both the ones that the media worked so hard to cover up starting with Joe Sr. but have been made public in the past few decades, all the way up to the newer ones in recent years. I’ve seen all sorts of Kennedy worship by the media and it truly flummoxes me sometimes.
Plus Joe’s running against an established politician who doesn’t cower at the mention of his family because Ed’s been in Congress since 1975. Joe was born in 1980.
From observation I know that every time the Democrats get a much earned severe defeat, their MSM start cranking out Kennedy stories and mags for the news stands.
Don’t think Marylin Monroe being pass around like an after dinner treat among the Kennedy boys – since it is well know publicly now – helps either.
The last thing we need is another Kennedy. The last one gave us Obama.
Born to lead – off a cliff – but born to lead.
Voters have had enough of the Kennedy Lead Poisoning……
Off topic but, I’m loving all the ads on here to sign a congratulations card for ,-la.
That is interesting ad placement.
The Kennedy name is not the door opener it once was.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is sad.
Markey is one nasty piece of work. A sort of a dumbed-down cross of Chuck Schumer and Reinhard Heydrich.
Most of us here in Mass want them to BOTH Lose.
I know the feeling — I’ve lived in California.