24 United States The EconomistOctober 5th 2019
1S
eeing a manwith plentiful red hair
talking in front of a small crowd and
several television cameras in Villa Victoria
housing development in Boston’s South
End, a young man stopped and asked what
was going on. Someone told him, “He’s
running for election.” “For president?” he
inquired. “No, Senate,” he was told. “Is he
famous or something?” “He’s a Kennedy.”
The young man nodded, turned around
and carried on with his day.
Joe Kennedy, a congressman who an-
nounced last month he was going to run for
Senate, has a certain amount of recogni-
tion in Massachusetts. His famous sur-
name will help fill fundraising tables and
may even get the old faithful to knock on
doors. But for many young voters the name
does not have the same resonance it once
did. It may even end up being a drag.
Mr Kennedy surprised his fellow-
Democrats when he decided to take on Ed
Markey, a well-liked Washington veteran.
Mr Markey may not be flashy (Thomas
Whalen, a political historian at Boston
University, says he makes John Kerry, a stiff
former senator and secretary of state, look
like Mick Jagger), but he is diligent. An en-
vironmentalist before it was “cool”, he
teamed up with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
to introduce the Green New Deal in Con-
gress. Some wonder why Mr Kennedy, whois 39, did not wait his turn. After all, Mr
Markey is 73. Or why he did not wait to see
how Elizabeth Warren, the state’s other
senator, does in the Democratic primary.
“For him, it’s a smart gamble,” says Scott
Ferson, a political consultant and Ted Ken-
nedy’s former press secretary. In the past
Mr Kennedy would have been a shoo-in for
the next available open slot, but the politics
and demography of Massachusetts have
changed in the decade since Mr Kennedy’s
great-uncle Teddy was the Senate’s liberal
lion. Mr Kennedy probably thinks Mr Mar-
key easier to defeat in a primary than the
plethora of talented young politicians in
the state, who include Maura Healey, the
state attorney-general; Michelle Wu, a Bos-
ton city councillor; Ayanna Pressley, a con-
gresswoman with a national profile; and
Seth Moulton, who recently dropped out of
the presidential race. But, says Mr Ferson, it
is still questionable whether the gamble
will pay off.
Mr Kennedy may have hoped the more
seasoned Mr Markey would retire rather
than take on a richer and younger challeng-
er. Instead he is digging in. Although Mr
Kennedy is ahead in early polls, Mr Markey
has the endorsement of most of the power-
ful Democrats in the state and the majority
of the state’s congressional delegation, as
well as Ms Ocasio-Cortez. He also has the
backing of Ms Warren. She knows Mr Ken-
nedy well; he met his wife in Ms Warren’s
law-school classroom.
Some suspect Mr Kennedy feels entitled
to the seat because, in a way, he was bred for
politics. His great-great-grandfather was a
congressman and a Boston mayor. His fa-
ther served in Congress for 12 years. His
grandfather, Robert, was attorney-general
and a senator. He is the great-nephew of a
president, and his great-uncle Ted was a
Massachusetts senator for 47 years.
Mr Kennedy’s reluctance to risk waiting
may not sit well with many in the party, but
that does not mean he is not well-liked or
that he has not been a good worker for his
constituents. He is an ardent supporter of
gay rights and a campaigner for improved
mental-health treatment. He has been an
outspoken critic of Donald Trump, which
pleases rank-and-file Democrats. He and
Mr Markey are both progressive. Indeed, on
paper there is very little difference between
the two men, apart from age.
So far, Mr Kennedy has not articulated a
good reason why voters should vote for
him over the incumbent. Instead, he most-
ly targets Mr Trump in stump speeches. He
calls the moment too urgent for “sitting on
the sidelines”. For many state Democrats,
next year’s presidential election has vital
ramifications, so to have an “insider fight
among Democrats and a primary seems be-
neath the moment,” says Erin O’Brien of
University of Massachusetts, Boston. Peo-
ple will be more willing to spend time andresources knocking on doors to beat Mr
Trump, she says, than to “defeat someone
you like, but you like the other guy more.”
Mr Kennedy launched his campaign in
the basement of a community centre, in
Boston’s East End, very near where his an-
cestors disembarked after fleeing the Irish
famine in the 1840s. Members of his family
lived and worked in the neighbourhood
and later represented it in office. The site of
the launch was a reminder that his family
was not always privileged. The clan has
been remarkably resilient—despite scan-
dals galore, no Kennedy has lost a race in
the state since 1946. That streak may come
to an end next year. “If he loses this race,”
predicts Mr Whalen, “it’s all over for the
Kennedy dynasty.”^7BOSTON
A Kennedy may be a hard sell in
Massachusetts, of all placesDynastiesKennedy 4.0
An average JoeT
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