Rep. Joe Kennedy III (who is, unsurprisingly given his family, a Democrat from Massachusetts) is expected on Saturday to formally announce his Senate primary challengeagainst Ed Markey at an event in East Boston.
Kennedy, 38, hopes to unseat the 73-year-old Markey, who was a member of the House Representatives from 1976 to 2014 and a senator since then. Even if Kennedy wins the primary on the back of his name recognition and moves on to become Massachusetts' next junior senator, he has no business even being in the race.
Markey and Kennedy both hail from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. On policy, there are no major differences between the two. They both support "Medicare for all," the Green New Deal, a $15 federal minimum wage, and impeaching President Trump. Like every other liberal, the two hold extreme pro-abortion views that are not in line with the general public.
A primary would make sense if it came from a moderate-to-conservative Democrat concerned about the party's drift leftward alienating moderates. But Kennedy himself is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, alongside "the squad."
The two big differences between these candidates are style and their last names. Although Markey is among the longest-tenured member of Congress, he maintains a low-profile, as Boston Magazine points out.
Last month, Kennedy explained how he feels as though he differs from Markey, “Senator Markey is a good man [but] I think I have new ideas and a new approach. It’s about standing up to Donald Trump every single day, but it’s also about addressing the failures and fissures in how our society has been broken long before Donald Trump got in office.”
Forget that Kennedy is not running against Trump, a man who might not even be president following the 2020 election. Kennedy feels as though his party needs to be more outspoken about their opponents and further divide the political climate.
Here's why Kennedy will likely win the race: He is a member of Massachusetts’ esteemed Kennedy family. He is Robert Kennedy's grandson. His great-uncles are John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. His father is Joseph P. Kennedy II, a former Massachusetts congressman. This is a rare case where the name recognition of a primary challenger is greater than that of the incumbent. Liberal Massachusetts reveres the Kennedy family just as conservatives despise the political dynasty.
But liberals vastly outnumber conservatives in Massachusetts, and Democratic voters are already indicating they prefer Kennedy to Markey. A Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll conducted earlier this month found that in a four-way race, Kennedy led Markey 35% to 26%. In late August, a Change Research poll found Kennedy up 42% to 25%.
Although Massachusetts Republicans are highly unlikely to capitalize on this primary fight and flip the seat red, a heated primary battle between Kennedy and Markey could help Republicans nationally. It could exhaust resources that otherwise would be used in competitive races across the country.
Instead, a power-hungry Kennedy will create in-fighting within his party to unseat an experienced progressive lawmaker so he can make bombastic statements against his Republican colleagues and vote nearly the exact same way as Markey.
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