Joe Kennedy III Wants You to Know He's More Than Just a Name

Boston magazine

On a normal day, the meeting hall in Middleton’s Flint Public Library is so empty and quiet, you can hear a bookmark drop. On a chilly afternoon in early February, though, the room looked like it had suddenly become the hottest spot in town, packed to capacity with politically engaged baby boomers eagerly awaiting an appearance by Massachusetts’ political man of the moment: Joe Kennedy III. Holding court at the front of the room beside a welcome table decked out with campaign signs, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett began by excitedly ticking off the many reasons he is “enthusiastically and without reservation endorsing” Kennedy in his campaign to unseat his fellow Democrat, U.S. Senator Ed Markey.

“We want someone who’s smart, someone who has empathy, someone who’s committed, someone who’s honest,” Blodgett said. “Check, check, check, check.”

The crowd broke out in hearty applause.

As Blodgett heaped praise on the 39-year-old candidate, the man himself leaned against a wall several feet away. Of all the famous Kennedys, JK3 looks most like his grandfather, Bobby. Tall and lean, he has the same eyes and high cheekbones, and even wears his hair in the same style: parted to the left and a little floppy, but not unkempt. The only difference is that instead of inheriting the usual Kennedy shade of chestnut brown, his hair is Doritos orange. As Blodgett went on, Kennedy wasn’t exactly shrinking from the praise, but he wasn’t gloating either. His smile looked just one degree away from something you could describe as bashful.