Markey gives the first L to a Kennedy running in Mass.

This has got to be one of the craziest races of the year, where an incumbent nearly goes "Bulworth" to win, while giving the Kennedy family their first loss in a Mass. state race with this Senate primary.

Kennedy was up by double digits in may, almost at 20 points. He is now losing by 10 as the votes come in. That may be a 30 point swing.

How?

AOC and Sunrise. AOC basically flipped the race by cutting Kennedy off from younger voters with not only her endorsement of Markey, but Markey's embrace of her and the Green New Deal (Markey is the Senate co-sponsor of it). And The Sunrise Movement may very well be the most dangerous organization deployed against Democratic moderates, as they have helped sack 3 incumbents and win open seats for progressives. They basically provided the force behind Markey's campaign. As a result, progressives started making Markey, who was far more centrist in the past, cool and a bad-ass, and he added on to that image with his ads.

Meanwhile Kennedy stumbled, could not find a good answer to why he is running to unseat Kennedy, played of his family name too much, and exposed himself to brutal attacks by the Markey camp. Markey was able to define him as an opportunist using his family name. And Kennedy could not differentiate his positions from Markey, hurting him.

Overall, Mass. primary wasn't great for progressives, Alex Morse lost, progressives bungled a race for Kennedy's house seat that led to a former Republican winning, and Kennedy did win with the working class. But they won the big race and kept the Green New Deal Senate sponsor in office.

Lol. Good. Hope he loses

He won't, its a blue state.

@texasgoldrush: .........You do know both are Democrats right?

Yeah, but Markey won, and the GOP nominee is weak in a blue state, basically making Markey the senator for next term.

Good, get the Kennedy's out of there.

America is not about royalty and dynasties, the fact we have political families is disturbing as hell.

@texasgoldrush: ......... I said I wanted Kennedy to lose not markey.

This is my state. Im so proud Markey won. This race was such a STUPID thing for Kennedy to do. Both Markey and Kennedy could have both kept serving but LOL now you're unemployed you Dynastic f*ck.

I dont even hate Joe Kennedy. He's done just fine. But he got a big ego, and now you're unemployed, dude.

@Shmiity: Doesn’t he still have his seat in Congress?

Hate to break it to you, TC, and I know those further left hated him as much as conservatives did (and oh boy, did someone far left hate JFK, so why Trumpies still link Dems with the communists after that, I don't know). But the Kennedy dynasty is not done yet. Losing doesn't mean they are out of politics (otherwise, by that logic Trump ended the Clinton dynasty... despite being a favorite boogeyman besides Soros and Obama).

Speaking of the Kennedy's, I need to finish XIII. And read the comics one day.

He gives it up next year.

No. He gave it up to run for this. Theres a tight race for his replacement

@Shmiity: Good. Maybe he can apply for Trumps unemployment benefits?

This is the ad that turned things against Kennedy. He had an 18+ point lead in polling before this.

They ran it all August, and her help revitalized Markey's campaign.

Around a 30 point swing, a massive comeback.

Kennedy went up against a senator with absolutely no gameplan. In a nutshell, It was: Hey, This guy is ok but I could be better. It was a stupid challenge and one that he should not have made. Regardless of the loss though, I still think Kennedy has a bright future. He just needs to pick his battles better.

I literally made this Kennedy Unemployment joke on my socials today.

Not really. Remember, Kennedy led big in the spring, so much so people thought that Markey would retire. Kennedy's problem is that he underestimated Markey along with AOC and the Sunrise Movement, and he made key campaign mistakes, like trying to run a traditional campaign in a pandemic.

And really, if he goes for an open seat later, he may have to face Ayanna Pressley, which he does not fare well against at all.