Joseph P. Kennedy III, the 31 year old grandson of late U.S. Senator Robert K. Kennedy, announced Thursday that he will officially explore running for Congress in 2012, in an effort to replace the retiring U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA.) in the fourth congressional district of Massachusetts.
If successful, Mr. Kennedy’s bid for the seat would mark the first return to politics for the Kennedy family since the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 2009.
“I am announcing today my intention to explore a candidacy for the United States Congress in the Fourth District of Massachusetts,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement Thursday, The Boston Globe reports.
Mr. Kennedy is the son of former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-MA.), who served in the House from 1987-1999.
Thursday, Mr. Kennedy resigned as a prosecutor in the office of Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., signaling that he will be pursuing the seat left open by the retiring Mr. Frank, who announced that he will retire in November rather than seek re-election in his redrawn district.
Mr. Frank has represented the fourth congressional district of Massachusetts since 1981.
“My decision to look seriously at elected office is grounded in a deep commitment to public service and my experience – both my own and that of my family — in finding just, practical, and bipartisan solutions to difficult challenges,” said Mr. Kennedy Thursday. “It is a commitment instilled in me at a young age and one that inspired me to join the Peace Corps after college and to become a prosecutor after law school.”
The young Kennedy also decried the partisan politics that currently has Democrats and Republicans in Congress at odds with each other and almost caused a government shutdown twice in 2011.
“We wage war, pass skewed tax breaks, and expand benefits by spendthrift borrowing, saddling the next generation of Americans with unsustainable debt,” said Mr. Kennedy Thursday. “Then when it comes time to restoring fiscal sanity to our budget, we see the middle class and the poor take the hit while the wealthy get more tax breaks.”
Mr. Frank’s term ends in 2013. Mr. Kennedy has formed an exploratory committee to research his chances at winning the seat next year.
