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Elizabeth Warren Wants Another Term

March 27, 2023 at 1:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced she’s running for another term in a video this morning.

Filed Under: 2024 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Kennedy Improperly Spent $1.5 Million In Primary

October 16, 2020 at 8:01 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Joe Kennedy’s (D-MA) unsuccessful Senate campaign has self-reported a campaign finance violation to FEC in which his campaign spent $1.5 million of general election funds in final weeks of the Democratic primary, the Boston Globe reports.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Why Joe Kennedy’s Senate Campaign Flopped

September 2, 2020 at 10:44 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “The question seemed to trail him everywhere, from the day Joe Kennedy announced he’d challenge Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary to the final hours of the campaign: Why are you running?”

“In a year of campaigning across Massachusetts, Kennedy never seemed to come up with a satisfactory answer. In the end, he simply gave up trying.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen


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Markey Beats Back Kennedy Challenge

September 1, 2020 at 10:14 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) has defeated Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary In Massachusetts, Decision Desk reports.

Kennedy is now the first member of his immediate family to lose a primary election in Massachusetts history.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Outflanks Kennedy by Running as Bold Insurgent

August 31, 2020 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “It wasn’t supposed to be this way — at least not in the minds of Massachusetts Democrats, who have spent a lifetime watching a parade of Kennedys win elections against little opposition. When Mr. Kennedy first considered leaving his House seat last year to challenge Mr. Markey in a primary race, some in the party wondered if the 74-year-old incumbent would step aside for the 39-year-old political scion.”

“Instead, Mr. Markey, who was elected to the House before Mr. Kennedy was born, has harnessed the energy of the ascendant left and wielded his rival’s gilded legacy against him. And he has used his support from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom he featured in an ad, and their joint authorship of the Green New Deal to establish himself as the clear front-runner.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Kennedy Scrambles to Close Gap

August 30, 2020 at 7:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Just two years ago, Joe Kennedy’s star was so bright that he was asked to deliver the Democratic Party’s response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Now, if he can’t turn things around before Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate primary, he’ll be out of politics,” Politico reports.

“A handful of recent polls show the 39-year-old congressman trailing incumbent Sen. Ed Markey — the septuagenarian incumbent whose campaign is improbably powered by younger progressive voters. Among voters under the age of 35, one of those polls reports, Markey is leading Kennedy by an almost 2-to-1 margin.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Opens Wide Lead Over Kennedy

August 28, 2020 at 10:17 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Emerson College poll in Massachusetts finds Sen. Ed Markey (D) leading Rep. Joe Kennedy (D) in the U.S. Senate primary, 56% to 44%.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Pelosi Endorses Kennedy In Massachusetts Senate Race

August 20, 2020 at 12:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is endorsing Rep. Joe Kennedy in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, putting her in the very rare position of backing a challenger to a Democratic incumbent, the Boston Globe reports.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Massachusetts Senate Primary Is Tight

August 17, 2020 at 8:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new SurveyUSA poll in Massachusetts finds Sen. Ed Markey (D) leading Democratic primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D), 44% to 42%.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Throws Shade at Kennedy Family

August 17, 2020 at 7:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Sen. Ed Markey is going where few Massachusetts Democrats have dared to go before. He’s not only attacking his challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy III, he’s throwing shade at the Kennedy family, the state’s equivalent of political royalty,” Politico reports.

“In an ever more contentious battle between a septuagenarian senator and the scion of one of the nation’s best-known dynasties, Markey is calling out specific Kennedy family members by name, needling the wealth and privilege that attaches to the family name, and even drawing from the Kennedy myth in his bid to fend off his youthful challenger.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Opens Wide Lead In Senate Primary

August 12, 2020 at 7:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new UMass Amherst poll in Massachusetts finds Sen. Ed Markey (D) leading Rep. Joe Kennedy (D) in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, 51% to 36%.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Kennedy Hits Markey for Ignoring Towns That Don’t Exist

July 27, 2020 at 4:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Over the weekend, Rep. Joseph Kennedy III’s (D-MA) campaign put out a press release condemning Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) for failing to acknowledge several Massachusetts towns in a Markey campaign map that sought to highlight his accomplishments for the state’s 351 municipalities,” the Boston Globe reports.

From the Kennedy press release: “Strangely the towns/cities of Stoughton, Blackstone, Dana, Dudley, Enfield, and Prescott do not exist in Markey’s Massachusetts.”

“The problem, of course, is that the towns of Dana, Enfield, and Prescott don’t exist in anyone’s Massachusetts: The towns are located at the bottom of the present-day Quabbin Reservoir. Dana, Enfield, and Prescott ― along with the town of Greenwich — were unincorporated, razed, and flooded in the 1930s to create the reservoir, which today supplies drinking water to 3 million people.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Trails Kennedy By Wide Margin

May 7, 2020 at 9:07 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Emerson College/7 News poll finds Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) at risk of losing reelection, as he trails Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA), 58% to 42%, for the Democratic primary.

A new UMass-Lowell poll has Kennedy ahead 44% to 42%.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Markey Short of Signatures Ahead of May Deadline

April 7, 2020 at 7:15 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) is still short the signatures he needs to get on the Democratic primary ballot for re-election, the Boston Globe reports.

He has only about 7,000 of the 10,000 he needs, but the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically slowed efforts.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Senate Primary In Massachusetts a Toss Up

February 21, 2020 at 2:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new University of Massachusetts Lowell survey in Massachusetts shows Rep. Joe Kennedy (D) just ahead of Sen. Edward Markey (D) in the Democratic primary, 35% to 34%, with another 23% still undecided.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Kennedy Outraises Markey In Senate Primary

January 5, 2020 at 10:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) raised more than $2.4 million over the last three months of 2019, outpacing incumbent Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) by about $1 million, the Boston Globe reports.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Samantha Power Open to Senate Run

October 4, 2019 at 2:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Former UN ambassador Samantha Power said Friday she would not rule out running for the US Senate seat held by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, should Warren be elected president,” the Boston Globe reports.

“Then again, she also said she wouldn’t rule out the job of Sox general manager, a job that’s actually open right now.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

Kennedy Will Formally Announce Senate Bid

September 18, 2019 at 5:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA), the last member of the Democratic dynasty serving in Washington, plans to formally announce Saturday that he is launching a primary challenge to Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA), an audacious political move that could open fissures within the Democratic Party and reshape the Massachusetts political landscape,” the Boston Globe reports.

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MA-Sen

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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