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Political dynasty takes hit with Joe Kennedy III's primary loss to Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey The bitter, personal Democratic primary between Rep. Joe Kennedy III and Sen. Ed Markey to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate has ended in defeat for the political scion, quashing hopes of a Camelot restoration. Kennedy, first elected to Congress in 2012, trailed Markey, who came to the Senate in a 2013 special election after 37 years in the House, by double digits in a spate of polls before their Tuesday primary. The defeat marks the first Kennedy loss in Massachusetts in modern political history. "Obviously, these results are not the ones we're hoping for," Kennedy told reporters and supporters late Tuesday. "But to everyone who fought with us, for everyone who stood with us, for everyone who believed in us and gave us their sweat, their tears, their hearts, and their souls to this fight, I am so proud of what we accomplished, what we built together." The battle drew a line in the Democratic Party. Markey earned endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, and his colleague, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who taught Kennedy at Harvard Law School and whom Kennedy backed in her White House bid. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also threw her support behind Markey; the pair co-authored the "Green New Deal." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, though, were in Kennedy's corner, as were many other House Democrats, including former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke. Kennedy, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, and Markey's fiercest clashes were over the congressman's lineage, a line of attack once considered sacrilegious in Massachusetts politics. Markey ripped former Rep. Joe Kennedy II, his rival's father, for siphoning $2.8 million in leftover campaign funds into a super PAC to boost his son. "I'm sure your father's watching right now. Tell your father right now that you don't want money to go into a super PAC that runs negative ads," Markey told the younger Kennedy during one of their debates in August. Markey, too, twisted the words of President John F. Kennedy, his opponent's great-uncle, in one of his own ads. “We asked what we could do for our country. We went out, we did it,” Markey said. “With all due respect, it's time to start asking what your country can do for you.” Kennedy III called a rare press conference to respond, telling reporters he was proud of his descendants' "contribution and their history" but recognized "a legacy is earned." Between the late president and his brother, Ted Kennedy, the Senate seat currently held by Warren was occupied by a Kennedy for more than half a century. There was speculation a Joe Kennedy Senate primary win, tantamount to a general election victory in deep blue Massachusetts, and success for his cousin-in-law Amy Kennedy in her New Jersey congressional race would usher in a new Camelot era where the members of the political dynasty enjoyed power at the same time. Amy Kennedy, whose father-in-law is Ted Kennedy, is vying to oust turncoat Rep. Jeff Van Drew on Nov. 3. Van Drew ditched the Democratic Party in 2019 over impeachment and last week vouched for President Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/political-dynasty-takes-hit-with-joe-kennedy-iiis-primary-loss-to-massachusetts-sen-ed-markey
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