Pelosi endorses Kennedy in Massachusetts Senate primary challenge

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday announced her endorsement of Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in his primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

“Never before have the times demanded we elect courageous leaders as today, and that is why I am proud to endorse Joe Kennedy for Senate,” Pelosi said in a video.

She said Kennedy was integral to the Democrats winning a House majority in 2018 and that he “knows that to achieve progressive change, you must be on the front lines, leading movements of people.”

“Joe Kennedy represents this Party’s future,” she added in a statement through the Kennedy campaign. “He will help lead Democrats forward on the defining battles of our time.”

Nancy Pelosi is a force. No one has done more to take on Donald Trump and build our Party’s future. Proud and humbled to have her with me in this fight. pic.twitter.com/xyMudb1ROB

— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) August 20, 2020

Pelosi has served with Kennedy in the House since he was sworn in for the first time in 2013 and served with Markey in the House from 1987 to 2013. During her first Speakership in 2007 she named Markey chair of a select committee on energy and climate change issues and later brought his climate legislation to the House floor for a vote in 2009.

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a tremendous, effective leader who has shattered glass ceilings throughout her career. I had the privilege to work alongside Nancy in the House of Representatives for decades,” Markey said in a statement. “Any candidate would be proud to have her endorsement, and I congratulate Congressman Kennedy on securing her support.”

Kennedy has picked up several other endorsements from House colleagues, including Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) and the late John Lewis (D-Ga.). Markey, who was first elected to the Senate in 2012, meanwhile, has received the endorsement of several progressive figures within the party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jamaal Bowman, who won a June primary against House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).

The Bay State’s Senate primary is set for Sept. 1.