Kennedy's legacy hovering over Senate race in Massachusetts

BOSTON (AP) — Perhaps inevitably, the long political shadow of the Kennedy family is hovering over an increasingly acrimonious contest between U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy lll, who's hoping to oust the incumbent in next week’s Democratic primary in Massachusetts.

At first, Kennedy shied away from leaning too heavily into a family history that includes former President John F. Kennedy, former U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — his grandfather — and former U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, who held a Senate seat in Massachusetts for nearly half a century until his death in 2009.

Kennedy said he began discussing his family in response to Markey, who during one debate told Kennedy he should tell his father — former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy II — not to help fund a political action committee that was going after Markey.

Kennedy backers also are irked by Markey’s decision to paraphrase a famous JFK quote in an online ad, saying, “We asked what we could do for our country. We went out, we did it. With all due respect, it’s time to start asking what your country can do for you.”

“If he wants to talk about the Kennedys, then I will talk about the Kennedys,” Kennedy responded on City Hall Plaza, steps away from a federal building named after President Kennedy.

Kennedy went on to list what he saw as Kennedy family highlights, from JFK’s early work on the Civil Rights Act to his grandfather’s decision to send federal marshals to protect freedom riders in the 1960s.

Kennedy has also denounced what he said were social media attacks from Markey backers.

During one tense debate exchange, Kennedy said supporters of Markey “have put out tweets saying that Lee Harvey got the wrong Kennedy” — a reference to JFK assassin...