PATRICK KENNEDY, son of late senator Ted Kennedy and the last member of the Kennedy dynasty still serving in public office, will not seek a ninth term as congressman for the state of Rhode Island.
“I will not be a candidate for re-election this year,” Mr Kennedy (42) announced in an emotional two-minute TV clip released to journalists on Thursday night but to be broadcast in Rhode Island tomorrow night.
At Ted Kennedy’s funeral last August, Patrick Kennedy spoke movingly of his boyhood struggle with asthma and his adoration of his father.
In the pre-recorded message, he said: “Illness took the life of my most cherished mentor and confidant, my ultimate source of spirit and strength.” Unless another Kennedy steps forward to stand in the November mid-term election, Mr Kennedy’s departure will mean that for the first time since 1947, no Kennedy will serve in the US Congress.
Mr Kennedy was facing a tough contest against a Republican state representative, John Loughlin III. A poll released last week by WPRI-TV showed that 62 per cent of Rhode Island voters disapproved of Kennedy’s performance. Only 35 per cent in his constituency said they would vote for him.
Last month, the Senate seat that Ted Kennedy held for 46 years fell to Republican Scott Brown. The surprise defeat was a major setback to the Democratic Party, which lost its filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and fears further losses in November.
Sean Richardson, Patrick Kennedy’s former chief of staff, who remains a friend, told the Providence Journal that Kennedy’s departure “absolutely, unequivocally has nothing to do with” his poor showing in last week’s poll or Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts. “He was talking about this decision long before any of these items were on the radar,” Mr Richardson said.
In his recorded message, Mr Kennedy said his “life is taking a new direction” and promised to “continue many of the fights we’ve waged together, particularly on behalf of those suffering from depression, addiction, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder”.
He has spoken openly about his battles with alcohol and drug addiction. In 2006, after a car crash on Capitol Hill, he was charged with driving under the influence of prescription drugs. Last year he checked in to an addiction treatment centre, saying he feared a relapse.
Last year he clashed publicly with Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island, who denied Mr Kennedy Communion because he supported abortion rights in the stalled healthcare reform Bill.