Joe Kennedy looks to extend dynasty with 2020 challenge - but will need to persuade Democrats first

The Massachusetts congressman sees himself as the heir apparent to his family's political dynasty. But can he defeat establishment progressive?

Joe Kennedy seemed to have his sights set on the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination when he delivered the official response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last year.

“We see an economy that makes stocks soar, investor portfolios bulge and corporate profits climb but fails to give workers their fair share of the reward,” he said at the time. “A government that struggles to keep itself open. Russia knee-deep in our democracy. An all-out war on environmental protection. A Justice Department rolling back civil rights by the day. Hatred and supremacy proudly marching in our streets.”

He has since seemingly decided there is a better way to confront the challenges laid out in that speech: running against an incumbent Democrat described as one of the Senate’s “strongest progressives” in the Massachusetts primaries.

The 38-year-old representative was set to announce his senatorial candidacy on Saturday, according to a report first published by the Boston Globe. He informed Ed Markey, the 73-year-old Democrat who has held the seat since 2013, of his decision to run against him earlier this week, the newspaper said.

“Joe plans to make a campaign announcement this Saturday in East Boston,” Mr Kennedy’s spokesperson Emily Kaufman said in a statement. “He looks forward to speaking with folks then.”

The rising Democrat reportedly filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission last month, following in the footsteps of his family’s political dynasty. He is the grandson of the former attorney-general Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running for the White House. Former President John F Kennedy and the late Senator Edward M Kennedy are both his great-uncles, while his father, Joseph P Kennedy II, was a representative in Boston.

Whereas the former president successfully managed to challenge incumbent President Jimmy Carter for the party’s nomination in 1980, Mr Kennedy may find his path to the Senate slightly-more complicated under Mr Markey.

The senator is popular in his home-state and across the country, having received endorsements from top liberal and progressive politicians nationwide. Elizabeth Warren, another Massachusetts senator who is running for president, has thrown her support behind Mr Markey — even as Mr Kennedy campaigns for her in their home-state.

"I couldn't ask for a better partner in the United States Senate than Ed Markey. He's worked very hard on a lot of issues for a very long time,” she told CBS News last week.

In response to Ms Warren’s decision to endorse Mr Markey, Mr Kennedy told reporters: “Primaries get messy. And I totally understand that. I respect her and the position of other folks in the delegation.”

Mr Markey has also been endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 29-year-old progressive from Queens, New York and the youngest women ever elected to serve in the US House of Representatives. In a campaign video posted by Mr Markey, the popular freshman Democrat shared a story of how the senator welcomed her ideas to Capitol Hill with open arms, eventually co-sponsoring the Green New Deal initiative.

Both Mr Kennedy and Mr Markey are considered progressive Democrats, though they aren’t entirely identical. While Mr Kennedy comes from one of the most prominent American political families in history, Mr Markey comes from a working class family in Malden, Massachusetts.

Still, Mr Kennedy will have a clear advantage against several other candidates in the primary race according to the latest polling. In a five-person race, the 35-year-old representative reportedly bests Mr Markey with a 9 per cent lead.