Proof of AOC's Muscle Among Dems Was Kennedy Family's 'Last Hurrah'

The power wielded by the Democratic Party's far left, symbolized by New York's Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, was demonstrated Tuesday by the defeat of Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the U.S. Senate primary in Massachusetts.

In a state where John F. Kennedy is revered 60 years after he became the nation's only Roman Catholic president, his grandnephew Joe was soundly beaten 55% to 45% by AOC-endorsed Sen. Ed Markey.

Even more dramatic is that the long inevitability of the Kennedy family winning office with ease in the Bay State — from JFK to brother and successor to his Senate seat Ted Kennedy to Joe Kennedy's congressman father and, until now, Joe himself — has been broken.

The last Kennedy family member to lose in Massachusetts was not even named Kennedy. Joe Kennedy's great-great-grandfather, former Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, was defeated in the race for the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination in 1942 by Rep. Joe Casey.

Markey, 74, and Kennedy, 39, differed on few major issues. But Markey was co-author with AOC of the costly "Green New Deal" to deal with climate change. The congresswoman campaigned vigorously for Markey throughout the year. In addition, Markey had the endorsements of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

Also weighing for Markey was the Sunrise Movement, a large and widespread group of millennials who are passionately concerned about climate change. Sunrise, in fact, made Markey their top priority in this election cycle, which very likely drained funds from far-left challengers to other Massachusetts lawmakers, such as Alex Morse in his race against House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rich Neal — Neal won with 60% of the vote.

The mobilization of the left behind Markey clearly worked. Veteran election analyst Jay O'Callaghan told Newsmax that "this turnout was the largest for a Democratic primary [1.2 million, or 28% of all eligible voters] in Massachusetts since 1992," when the late Sen. Paul Tsongas was running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. "Markey did especially well in the college towns and swept Cambridge and Sommerville with 80% of the vote." Markey actually trounced Kennedy in his own 4th U.S. House District by 2-to-1.

For Joe Kennedy, the future is not bright. Much as his granduncle Ted Kennedy suffered badly in his 1980 presidential bid with a rambling answer on why he wanted to be president, Joe left many Democrats unimpressed by saying he was running because he felt he could "leverage" a Senate seat better than Markey. 

With no Kennedy in Congress from the Bay State after January and no family member on the horizon, it is not surprising to hear some invoke the title of the late Edwin O'Connor's epic political novel to characterize what Joe Kennedy's Senate race means to his family: "The Last Hurrah."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.