What qualifications does Joe Kennedy have to replace his uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy?”
Joe Kennedy is named after his late uncle Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., is the eldest son of the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In November 1986, Kennedy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Massachusetts 8th Congressional District. The Democratic nomination was contested by a number of well-known Democrats with long records of public service, among them veterans of the Massachusetts legislature such as Thomas Gallagher, George Bachrach, and Mel King. However, Kennedy garnered endorsements from the Boston Globe and the retiring incumbent, Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, who held the seat from 1953 to 1987. (From 1947 to 1953, this seat had been held by Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy.) He then returned to Citizens Energy Corporation, a non-profit organization he founded in 1979 to provide discounted heating oil to low-income families. (From 1986 until 1998, it had been run by his brother Michael.) Citizens Energy pursues commercial ventures
