There has been one nagging reality about the upcoming primary for U.S. Senate between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy III that has not been discussed nearly enough.
Only one of those two candidates actually wants to be a U.S. Senator.
Logistically, the main differences between being a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator are just the size of the district and the length of the term. But a legislator in Congress is a legislator in Congress. Ed Markey has been doing it for a while now and he’s quite good at it. He’s still producing as a legislator, from being lead Senate sponsor on the Green New Deal to championing Net Neutrality to drafting legislation with Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders to end qualified immunity in policing, and much more. And he wants to keep legislating, with progressive Massachusetts values animating that legislation. He wants to *be* our U.S. Senator.
Is there anyone in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, regardless of whether you support Markey, JKIII, or neither of them, who doesn’t think that Joe Kennedy III is using the Senate seat as a steppingstone to a future presidential campaign? Anyone? (Yes, as an aside, the prospect of Elizabeth Warren running for President in 2020 was evident while she was running for re-election in 2018; but, she was consistently voting & legislating like Elizabeth Warren throughout, and she wasn’t trying to displace a strong, progressive legislator to attain the office. As such, the situations are not analogous.)
One of the many knocks on JKIII’s candidacy is that he hasn’t clearly articulated *why* he is running. He hasn’t been able to do so because it is impolitic to say, “because it’s easier to run for President as a Senator than as a Representative; and, I don’t want to wait for an open U.S. Senate seat in four or six years because the possibility of facing Ayanna Pressley in a primary is just too daunting.”
Nota bene: even JKIII’s most coherent articulation for a reason why he’s running, that “it’s time for [a vague, nondescript] change” rings hollow because, in 2018, instead of standing with progressive voices of reform & change, like Rachael Rollins for Suffolk County DA (JKIII stood with conservative Greg Henning for the open seat), Ayanna Pressley for Congress (JKIII endorsed the incumbent), and Nika Elugardo for State Representative (JKIII endorsed the incumbent), Joe Kennedy III stood with the status quo candidate. Every. Single. Time. So, “change” just ain’t the reason he’s running, and it’s insultingly disingenuous that he’s exploitatively co-opting such a message.
Running for President is JKIII’s birthright, and the reality is that he wants to waste no time in claiming that birthright. So be it.
Now, ambition on its face is not inherently bad. Right now, in the Veepstakes, Senator Kamala Harris is on the receiving end of “too ambitious” garbage, which, in her case, is most definitely heavily tinged with racist and sexist undertones. Ambition isn’t a bad thing when it’s a motivator for positive action. But this is an apples-to-oranges situation when compared to JKIII.
The problem comes into play when JKIII nakedly uses the Senate seat – and, specifically, his future potential voting record on the floor of the U.S. Senate – as a steppingstone to his actual goal of being President. The result will be a voting record calculated from day one to appeal more to Iowa caucus & New Hampshire primary voters (and, even further from the progressive left, independent voters in Ohio & Florida) four, eight, or twelve years down the line rather than Massachusetts families in 2021.
The outcome of such a calculation can be awfully bad votes taken to appear to be of presidential timber at the time but prove in the long run to be tragic folly. The starkest examples from recent history are future Presidential nominees and then-Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton voting in support of the authorization for the use of military force against Iraq, in October 2002. We already see this behavior manifesting in JKIII’s voting record, a stark example of which is his being too accommodating to the Hedge Fund Set, from which he has benefited handsomely fundraising-wise.
I want my U.S. Senator to really, really want to be my U.S. Senator, and to vote in the U.S. Senate without the taint of long-term presidential ambition, with my interests & positions prioritized ahead of the perceived interests & positions of hypothetical future Iowa and Ohio presidential election voters or those who would finance such a future campaign.
One of the two candidates in the primary for U.S. Senate fits that bill. One doesn’t.
Prepping for a national bid is not an invalid reason for a Senate run, but Kennedy is proposing to remove an exceptional legislator to do it.
He should have carpetbagged into another state, like his grandad did in New York in 1964.
Really? Read this and tell me Markey is a Champion for Justice. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/03/metro/markey-offers-apologies-parents-dj-henry/?p1=SectionFront_Feed_AuthorQuery
This is exactly why primary challenges are a good thing, even for politicians you like. Nobody would be asking about this unless there were a contested election coming up.
I’m interested in how the two candidates treated the family in this police killing.https://bluemassgroup.com/2013/06/who-shot-wilfredo-justiniano/
The victim was not a constituent in Markey’s district at the time, but may have been in Joe Kennedy’s district.
In contrast to how they covered the Henry killing, the Globe did an absolutely miserable job covering this death, which might also be a factor.
The aftermath of this shooting was reported by the Patriot Ledger (https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20181003/judge-no-excessive-force-in-fatal-police-shooting-in-quincy):
He carpetbagged from Cambridge to Brookline to run for his house seat. Did he even have time to unpack?
Did you care back in 2014? Otherwise it’s a moot point. I hate to see the left regurgitate all the right wing attacks against the Kennedys for their wealth and privilege. Have they behaved liked the Trumps or like Democrats? Let’s be real. Every Kennedy in public life has a very liberal voting record and the differences between Ed and Joe are fairly minuscule. Joe’s record is identical to Barney Frank’s, down time the bad votes on Israel.
Downrated for the carpet bagging attack and the attack on Robert Kennedy.
Wow, fiction posing as facts to revise history. Ed Markey wanted to be US Senator in 1984. Then he got cold feet when he lost Speaker O’Neil’s support to Jim Shannon. So, ever the profile in courage, Ed dropped out.
But given the chance 30 years later, Ed had the “courage” to run in a special election where he did not have to risk his congressional seat, he makes a run.
So the reality is, Ed wants to be you Senator…as long as he as a solid Plan B and JoeIII has the courage to walk away from a safe House seat to be my US Senator.
Thanks for providing more clarity to me for voting for Joe (as I’m not a fan) Kennedy seems to have half a spin compared to Ed “Jellyfish” Markey complete lack of one.
This was also the point at which he changed his position on women’s reproductive rights. Another profile in courage.
“ The starkest examples from recent history are future Presidential nominees and then-Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton voting in support of the authorization for the use of military force against Iraq, in October 2002. ”
You do realize Markey voted for that war? Was that because he’s an awesome progressive or because he wanted to be a Senator?
I’m voting for Markey because he asked one of my favorite students to speak on his behalf, because he came out for our car parade for my local teachers association, and because he co-sponsored the Green New Deal.
I think Kennedy is a great progressive legislator who’s time will come, I think he’s trying to seize the typical center in an atypical year. We will see. I wish we had a more robust policy debate.
If there is an election in November, I will vote for Ed Markey. I’ve heard the arguments, seen the position papers, followed the back-and-forth, and made up my mind. Ed Markey is my choice to continue as our junior senator.
If JKIII is truly as substantive as his supporters claim, then he will be back in future campaigns. If he is able to show a more substantive difference over his competitors in those campaigns, then I will support him.
In THIS 2020 election, I’ll be voting for Ed Markey.
Yep. I don’t disagree with that take Tom, I just find it odd the OP used a hypothetical example against Kennedy that actually applies to Markey. It’s been that aspect of this campaign that has been so dispiriting.
There’s a reason they call it “silly season”.
I assume you realize that the real contest in question is September 1st rather than in November, the latter being when our nominee will mop the floor with the Republican human sacrifice.
Isn’t it Dr. Shiva again? That guy was holding a standout in the Kowloon parking lot the other day. Wonder how much money he’s sinking into this quixotic run. I’m more worried about a Republican sneaking through a special if Warren gets a cabinet post. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it though. 2021 wont be 2009/10 because of lingering anti-Trump sentiment. Baker could probably win the seat if he wanted it though.
Probably Dr. Shiva, but there is another candidate in that primary. If Baker wanted to be in the Senate, which he consistently denies, I don’t know why he would not run this year.
Did you read what the Henrys had to say about Markey in the Globe? This is what being and absentee legislature is about.
Why are the statements of the family relevant to the campaign?
Actually, I have not read that — or anything else in the Globe — because the Globe locks itself behind a paywall. I did a trial subscription a little while ago and found that, if anything, the publication is worse now than it was when I canceled my 30+ year subscription. The Globe should pay me to read it.
I have no doubt that the Henry’s feel, with no small justification, that their son was improperly killed by police and that the resulting investigation was a literal whitewash. I also don’t doubt, since you reference it here, that they have caustic things to say about Mr. Markey. I have great sympathy for the family.
Western society learned somewhere around the twelfth century that aggrieved family members were NOT suitable arbiters of appropriate punishment. That’s why we have juries.
I’ll be voting for Mr. Markey in the upcoming election. I’ll be working with Mr. Markey and others to change our government so that we rein in police excesses and end the automatic protection of violent and abusive uniformed thugs.
The shooting we’re talking about was a terrible thing. It is irrelevant to the choice between JKIII and Ed Markey. I’m not sure either Mr. Markey or his opponent were involved in the appointment of judge Donald Cabell in 2014. I’m not sure what role either played in the process that led up to the shooting or its aftermath.
On the other hand, it does appear that you’re attempting to exploit the feelings of this grieving family to sway votes for your chosen candidate.
That exploitation troubles me much more than where Mr. Markey spends his time while so effectively serving as our junior senator.
Not just my chosen candidate, it’s theirs. Their reasoning was the contrast in treatment between all of the other members of the MA congressional delegation and Markey. Here’s what they recall him saying to them as he ate his lunch. This is from the Globe article, “He also said he remembered Markey using the term “colored” to refer to Black people, saying something to the effect of how incidents “involving colored people and police, these are hard.”
“My wife and I looked at each other, [and thought] this is absurd,” he recalled.”
Has Markey followed up on this? I find the claim from the family very disturbing and hard to dispute. His apology seems more of the “sorry if anyone was offended” variety which does not meet the family allegation.
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/family-of-slain-black-student-dj-henry-calls-out-ed-markey/2171890/
This shooting took place in New York ten years ago.
How many black men from Massachusetts have been killed by police, nationwide, since 2013? What has JKIII done about those cases before launching his primary campaign in 2020?
I think this is the kind of sucker-punch nonsense that makes Americans despise politics.
Every death is a tragedy. The epidemic of police violence against blacks is a shameful horror that we must stop.
I despise the way JKIII is exploiting this family’s pain.
The family seems to be legitimately angry at Markey though for how he responded. I think in this climate their claim should be taken seriously, but I’ll agree I don’t appreciate the way it’s being spun. It probably does not affect my vote, but its definitely disappointing.
It sounds like Kennedy has been very active in their case. They were his guests at the 2015 SOTU, he set up a scholarship fund for their son, and has been in regular touch with them on the case. They met with Markey once in 2012 and did not hear again from him until after they called him out this week. It’s not a good look for Markey. Again, I’m good friends with one of their neighbors in Easton who pointed me to these issues.
https://www.boston.com/news/racial-justice/2020/08/05/ed-markey-dj-henry
This does not necessarily change my vote, but I want Markey to really lead on this case and the issue more broadly and sadly he’s not been as visible on it as he has been on climate.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of the family’s grief and anger. In fact, that’s why I don’t like how they’re being played by JKIII.
Mr. Markey signed the same letter to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2014%20SDNY%20DJ%20Henry%20Letter.pdf) as JKIII.
I do NOT want public figures to “lead” in whatever high profile case happens to pop into the news cycle. I’m sick and tired of endless posturing that plays to emotion and passion.
ENORMOUS numbers of black men are shot by police every month. The killing of D. J. Henry, Jr is no more tragic than any of those. A June 1, 2020 piece by 538 (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/police-are-killing-fewer-people-in-big-cities-but-more-in-suburban-and-rural-america/) reports the sobering news that police killings in America’s major cities have actually been declining since 2014. Those declines have been offset by INCREASES in police killings in suburban and rural areas, so that the total has remained roughly constant.
I do not want national policy to be determined by who is most effective at picking poster-children to be presented like reality TV shows to an electorate that pays ever less attention to rationality and objectivity and ever more attention to emotion and passion.
I want a senator who is acting to stop police violence against blacks. Mr. Markey’s signature on that 2014 letter is good enough for me.
“How they’re being played.” Pure speculation on your part. If you actually read about this situation you wouldn’t make a claim that has no basis in fact.
Pure speculation?
You have made NO comments here about the epidemic of police violence against blacks — NONE. I’m one of several who has been beating the drum about this for years here at BMG.
It isn’t until your chosen candidate chooses this as a campaign ploy that you’re here talking about it.
I don’t hear any genuine concern from you about the the Henry’s or about the ongoing police violence against blacks.
What I hear instead is a sequence of comments supporting your chosen candidate. The late Mr. Henry and his family are nothing more than a prop. It appears to me that you’ve got your talking points and you’re sticking to them.
If you want to keep beating this dead horse, feel free. I suspect its driving away more potential supporters of JKIII than it’s attracting.
Well, if none of the Kennedy supporters are willing to explain what he did for Wilfredo Justiniano’s family, maybe they can explain this: https://bluemassgroup.com/2013/07/joe-kennedy-iii-supports-continued-funding-of-domestic-nsa-spying/
I’m glad that there is a primary race, but Kennedy is no progressive. Let’s not get carried away.