In a political career, there are always defeats. Often more than victories. But there are some that are more painful than others. The one that Joseph P. Kennedy III has just wiped will certainly be difficult to digest. On Wednesday September 2, he was beaten by Ed Markey in the Democratic primary for the Massachusetts senator’s seat. According to the still partial results relating to some 43% of the votes counted, the latter would have won by only ten points. Victorious, Ed Markey hailed, in a tweet, the “thousands of grassroots supporters who have organized themselves around the principles we hold dear. For his part, Joseph P. Kennedy III barely commented.
If this defeat is particularly bitter for him, it is because from next January, he will no longer have any current mandate. Indeed, Joseph P. Kennedy III is currently elected to the House of Representatives, but he had taken the risk of running for this primary for the senatorial. However, American law is firm: a candidate cannot compete for election for the House and the Senate at the same time. Joseph P. Kennedy III cannot therefore be a candidate for re-election. What a disillusionment for this young politician of 39 years who was in 2018 considered as the rising star of his party! Everyone was talking about him, his flawless red hair, his porcelain complexion, his ultra-white smile, and of course his great talent.
Joseph P. Kennedy III naturally bathes from an early age in politics. After having trained in the best schools, he therefore presented himself in 2012 to succeed the Democrat Barney Franck in Congress. His campaign, for which he had raised more than three million dollars, had been a success, haloed by 60% of the votes cast. His speeches were very noticed each time, which had led him to face Donald Trump during the traditional speech on the State of the Union, on January 30, 2018. A moment that had brought him unprecedented media coverage, when he was only 37 years old.
Worthy heir to the Kennedys? Joe undoubtedly was, until this recent loss. Because with it, he puts an end to an almost uninterrupted reign of his dynasty over Massachusetts. Indeed, this state of New England has always been the stronghold of this lineage which saw one of its members settle in the White House. Before being President of the United States, JFK had moreover been representative of the 11th district of Massachusetts from 1947 to 1953, then senator of the same region until 1960. His ancestor, Patrick Joseph Kennedy had opened the way by becoming, in 1889, deputy then senator of Massachusetts. Others will be elected in this state, including Edward Moore Kennedy, Senator from 1962 to 2009, and Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, father of Joseph P. Kennedy III, representative of the 8th District of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999.
So it is, in a way, the end of an era. Would the Kennedys no longer have a future on the political scene? It is too early to say. Now everyone is interested in Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, 27, who made a notable appearance in a video at the last Democratic National Convention. A few seconds, nothing more, which augured him a brilliant career. In the meantime, Massachusetts will have to learn to do without its most illustrious family.
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