On Monday, Rep. Joe Kennedy III publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was considering challenging Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary, and that he planned “to spend the next couple weeks talking to as many of you as I can, trying to figure out if this campaign is right for me and right for Massachusetts.”
Kennedy said in his Facebook post, “I hear the folks who say I should wait my turn, but with due respect -- I'm not sure this is a moment for waiting.” He continued, “Our system has been letting down a lot of people for a long time, and we can't fix it if we don't challenge it. I've got some ideas on how to do that.” Kennedy’s message didn’t mention Markey.
While Kennedy says he’s still deciding what to do, he did form a new fundraising committee with the FEC on Monday for the possible Senate run. If Kennedy ran for the upper chamber, he’d be able to transfer all the money from his House campaign to his new Senate committee. At the end of June, Kennedy had a small $4.2 million to $4.1 million cash-on-hand lead over Markey.
Labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan and business executive Steve Pemberton are already challenging Markey in the primary, and it remains to be seen what they’d do if Kennedy decided to run as well. However, attorney Scott Lang, who is a former mayor of New Bedford, acknowledged Friday that he was unlikely to enter the race if the congressman did as well. Lang added that if Kennedy decides to stay in the House, he’d decide whether or not to take on Markey by Oct. 1.
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