Kennedy invokes famous family name
Polls put him even with Markey
Joseph Kennedy III did something he doesn’t “do very often” and invoked his famous family name, pushing back at Sen. Ed Markey’s recent attacks on the political dynasty and making a few “attacks” of his own as a new poll puts the pair in a dead heat for the Senate seat.
“Sen. Markey has been in government for nearly 50 years. He has served in times of tremendous consequence. He’s gotten it wrong over and over. So he attacked my family,” Kennedy said.
The younger Kennedy has often tried to distance himself from his roots, championing his own record in Congress in his attempt to usurp Markey in the Senate. That changed on Monday in a drag-out race that has grown increasingly personal for both candidates, even as they remain virtually indistinguishable on policy.
Markey threw shade at the Kennedy family over the past week, going so far as to repurpose a famous JFK line.
“We asked what we could do for our country. We went out, we did it,” he said in the video. “With all due respect, it’s time to start asking what your country can do for you.”
Holding a press conference — during which he took no questions from reporters — in front of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building on Monday, the Congressman recalled the success of the family members that served before him.
“My uncle Teddy was right here, literally right here where we stand getting garbage thrown at his face by an angry mob for daring to defend desegregation,” Kennedy
said, flanked by Black leaders from across the state, including Suffolk Sheriff Steven Tompkins and Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer.
“Meanwhile, Ed Markey was voting to keep Black kids from white classrooms,” Kennedy jabbed.
Kennedy slammed Markey’s record saying he opposed efforts to end segregation in the 1970s, voted against ending tax breaks for schools that openly practiced racial discrimination in the 1980s and supported mass incarceration in the 1990s.
Markey Campaign Manager John Walsh called Kennedy’s comments “desperate, baseless attacks.”
A SurveyUSA poll of likely Democratic primary voters put the pair neck-and-neck with Markey taking a slight lead at 44% to Kennedy’s 42%, within the poll’s margin of error. Of the 558 voters surveyed, 15% remained undecided even as mail-in ballots are already being cast.
Kennedy’s comments came on the heels of last week’s fiery debate and one day before the two square off in their final debate today, hosted by WCVB along with The Boston Globe, WBUR and UMass Boston ahead of the primaries on Sept. 1.
The jabs grew deeply personal in last week’s debate as Markey attacked the congressman’s “negative” campaign, suggesting the Kennedy family’s deep-pockets was funding a super PAC and keeping him in the race.