Joe Kennedy formally announces US Senate campaign

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Joe Kennedy formally announces US Senate campaign

Boston: Joe Kennedy III formally declared his candidacy for the US Senate on Saturday, becoming the first member of the Kennedy political dynasty to bid for the upper chamber of Congress since Edward M. Kennedy in 1962.

The Massachusetts Democrat formally announced his campaign in an email before a kickoff event in East Boston, where the Kennedy clan first settled after arriving from Ireland well over a century ago.

"I'm running because our country is at a moment of truth," Kennedy told supporters in the email. "Donald Trump has forced a long overdue reckoning in America. And how we respond will say everything about who we are."

Joe Kennedy speaks in front of the Supreme Court in Washington.

Joe Kennedy speaks in front of the Supreme Court in Washington.Credit:

Joe Kennedy is a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, who was attorney general in his own brother John F. Kennedy's White House and was a senator running for the Democratic presidential nomination when he was assassinated in 1968. JFK was felled by an assassin's bullet five years earlier, in 1963.

The 38-year-old Joe Kennedy will face 73-year-old incumbent Senator Edward Markey in next year's primary.

Joe Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, also served in Congress. Others elected to office include former US Republican Patrick Kennedy II and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland's lieutenant governor.

First elected to Congress in 2012, Kennedy has tried to position himself as more of a pragmatist than those on the left of his party.

Nevertheless, Kennedy has adopted many of the causes driving the party's liberal wing. He has called for Congress to initiate impeachment efforts against President Donald Trump and has backed a "Medicare for All" bill in the House. He has also said he supports the Green New Deal initiative to combat climate change, something Markey is championing along with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

AP

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