Young Kennedy launches bid for US Congress seat

The grand-nephew of US President John F. Kennedy launched his campaign for a seat in the US Congress, aiming to become the latest in the family dynasty to enter national politics.

I’ve spoken to people from across Massachusetts who believe that Washington no longer works for them

Democrat Joseph Kennedy III, 31, released a video announcement on his campaign website, then spent the morning greeting commuters in Newton, in the fourth district of Massachusetts where he aims to succeed the retiring Barney Frank.

“I believe this country was founded on a simple idea, that every person deserves to be treated fairly by their government. But that’s not happening in America anymore,” Mr Kennedy said in his video message.

“I’ve spoken to people from across Massachusetts who believe that Washington no longer works for them,” he said, adding that he will fight “for a fair tax code that says the middle-class shouldn’t have to fund tax breaks for the super-rich”.

Should Mr Kennedy win a seat in the House of Representatives in November, his family would return to national politics for the first time since Patrick Kennedy – son of the clan’s late patriarch Edward Kennedy – left office early last year.

The congressional hopeful, son of former representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and grandson of the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, is an assistant district attorney in Middlesex county. He speaks Spanish fluently, graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School and served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

Several members of the storied and troubled US political clan have served in Washington since John F. Kennedy successfully ran for a House seat from Massachusetts in 1946, before going on to win the presidency.

The death in 2009 of senator Edward Kennedy was seen as a landmark, leaving no Kennedys in high political office and ending the last high-profile public link to the era of the assassinated JFK.

Joe Kennedy gave a nod to his political pedigree in his video, stressing that “my family has had the great privilege of serving Massachusetts before”.