There’s a video you see when you first go to Joe Kennedy’s campaign website. As understated but urgent music plays in the background, and Kennedy sizes up the political moment (“Now is not the time for waiting…”), you watch him moving through crowd after crowd — giving, by my count, three handshakes, two high fives, and one hug. He also puts his arms around people’s shoulders twice; at one point, someone touches Kennedy on the back as he speaks.
It’s this aspect of campaigning — the sheer tactile immediacy of it — that Kennedy says he misses most right now.
“Every campaign that I’ve ever tried to run has been very heavily retail based, right?” Kennedy said. “It’s getting out into the communities, meeting people where they are, in their homes, in their workplaces, on the streets.
“That’s a lot of handshakes and high fives and fist bumps. And I can’t do any of that anymore.”
In this particular contest, Kennedy’s inability to get up close and physical could be a difference maker. The Democratic Senate primary isn’t really about ideology; while their positions differ on some issues differ, both Kennedy and the incumbent, Sen. Ed Markey, are progressives. And it’s not about demography, since both candidates are white men. Instead, it’s a match-up between Kennedy’s youthful vigor and Markey’s long record of service, being waged on a playing field redrawn by the pandemic.
Their approaches haven’t been identical. On March 13, Kennedy announced that he was temporarily suspending his campaign. He canceled all fundraising events, pulled his online advertising, and backed out of a scheduled debate — but he didn’t go dark. Instead, he went online, and all in on COVID-19.
Case in point: a Facebook Live conversation with Jason Furman, Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, about a bill that would send $4,000 to most American adults, with Kennedy running through the details (“That’s the crux of the bill. I’m thrilled to announce it today.”) and Furman offering a generous assessment of Kennedy’s advocacy (“I think your leadership on this issue has been tremendous.”).
In the days after his campaign’s so-called suspension. Kennedy also interviewed his friend Jon Santiago, the state representative and ER doctor, about the scene at Boston Medical Center. He spoke about the coronavirus crisis in Spanish. And he urged caution in English as his two very cute kids mugged for the camera, singing “Do You Want To Build A Snowman” from the Disney hit “Frozen.”
It paid off. A press release from the nominally suspended campaign bragged that in just one week, those and other videos featuring Kennedy had reached 2 million people. Meanwhile, campaign staffers started calling senior citizens to check on their well-being — something they’re still doing today, though the campaign is now back in full swing.
All of which raises a delicate question: During the coronavirus crisis, what’s the line between altruistic service and plain old politicking?
“Is there the benefit that people say, ‘Hey, the Kennedy people are checking in with me?’ Sure,” Nick Clemons, Kennedy’s campaign manager, acknowledged.
But while Clemons doesn’t deny that elderly voters who get a call from Kennedy for Massachusetts might respond favorably, he insists that’s not the point.
“At the end of the day, they’re probably going to leave the conversation with us with a positive impression, but that wasn’t the motivating factor,” Clemons said. “The motivating thing was … we’ve got these resources. How do we put them to good use?”
Markey has also been busy on the virtual campaign trail. Unlike Kennedy, he never froze any part of his campaign operation. And he, too, has been talking a lot about COVID-19.
In a Facebook Live of his own, for example, Markey got a virtual tour from Gladys Vega, the head of the Chelsea Collaborative, a nonprofit serving a heavily Latino community that’s been devastated by the pandemic. (Markey: “What are you seeing, Gladys? What’s happening right now in Chelsea?” Vega: “Ninety percent of the residents are in poverty. Eighty percent are essential employees.”)
Vega is a legendary organizer, so her insights about the pandemic in Chelsea carried weight — as did her kind words for the incumbent. (“You have always been a friend to Chelsea,” Vega told Markey. “So I’m glad that we’re doing the interview, and I’m glad that we have a senator such as you.”) In fact, when Markey fired back at Kennedy’s claim that he’s ignored communities like Chelsea during his Senate tenure, Vega’s comments were front and center.
You could hear a similar dynamic in Markey’s conversation with Sara Nelson, the head of the powerful Association of Flight Attendants. Their back and forth operated on two levels, as insights from a national union on the coronavirus front lines blended with praise for Markey’s track record in D.C. (“Anybody who’s watching right now,” Nelson said at one point, “needs to know how much flight attendants feel for Ed Markey.”)
In addition, while Kennedy has his telegenic kids, Markey has his own unique campaign asset: an unexpected knack for offbeat social media. A few weeks ago, a tweet showing Markey wearing a face mask and some very old-school basketball shoes went viral. More recently, another tweet, showing him shooting hoops in Malden in those same Nike high tops, caused a sensation, too.
Now, oddly, Markey’s basketball skills and taste in sneakers have become a source of fascination for his fans, particularly younger ones.
“I had no idea it was going to take on this identity,” Markey said. “Here’s what I’ve learned: I’ve learned that Air Revolutions are inter-generational, they’re universal, they are eternal.”
Meanwhile, voters have learned that Markey once won the annual congressional free throw contest by making 47 of 50 shots. Taken together, those photos and that biographical wrinkle help humanize the senator, while also suggesting he’s pretty spry for 73.
“I had some of my greatest memories spending my evenings at the park in Malden, practicing,” Markey said. “Whenever anyone asked my mother where I was, she’d say, ‘He’s at the basketball court … of course.’ So I just want to say to my mother, God bless her — all that practice is paying off!”
The challenge now, for both Markey and Kennedy, is to keep creating moments that make people pay attention. After all, with COVID-19 still dominating the headline and the novelty of online video starting to ebb, some voters may be ready to tune out —and the primary is still four whole months away.
