Joe Kennedy’s Democratic primary challenge against Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts received a slight boost Thursday, thanks to a new poll.
Kennedy, who has represented parts of Massachusetts south of Boston in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013, has a 2 percentage point edge on Markey, the first-term incumbent, according to a University of Massachusetts Lowell and YouGov survey. But their 44%-42% support apiece is well within the study’s margin of error of plus or minus 7.8 percentage points.
Another 10% of respondents were undecided, while another 4% would cast a ballot for another candidate.
Kennedy, 39, ruffled the Democratic establishment when he announced his Senate bid last September against Markey, who earned praise from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for his work on the Green New Deal. Even Elizabeth Warren, the senior senator for Massachusetts, sided with Markey, 73, over her former Harvard Law School student who supported her unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Critics contend Joe Kennedy, a grandson of the late former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, doesn’t have a compelling reason to seek the Senate seat his family controlled for more than five decades given how close he and Markey are on policy issues. Joe Kennedy, instead, is making a generational argument since Markey has been in Congress since 1976 and is the longest-serving member of the Massachusetts delegation.
Despite Markey’s establishment backing, Kennedy still outpaces him in fundraising. Kennedy notched up $6.6 million cash on hand compared to Markey’s $4.4 million, according to first financial quarter disclosure reports. This week, Kennedy also flagged how he would spend $1.2 million on a statewide advertising effort, his first ad buy ahead of the Sept. 1 primary.
YouGov surveyed 531 likely Democratic Senate primary voters in Massachusetts online between Apr. 27 and May 1 on behalf of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. A February poll by YouGov of Democratic presidential primary voters in the state found a similarly close race, with Kennedy ahead by 1 percentage point, 35%-34%.
