Joe Kennedy III gains friends as Democrats ready for 2020

Establishment loyalist U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III is keeping his 2020 support under wraps amidst a young, progressive upheaval on Capitol Hill — even advising liberal superstar Beto O’Rourke while Bay State colleague Sen. Elizabeth Warren launches her race.

“I last talked to him probably a week ago, and he was trying to figure out what was the best thing for him and his family and whether it was the right time for him to launch a presidential campaign,” said Kennedy, who spent weeks in Texas during the 2018 midterms campaigning for the charismatic O’Rourke’s buzzworthy bid for U.S. Senate.

“Beto was on the road for two years and threw every fiber of his being into that race for Senate, and what he is basically contemplating at the moment is something that I think even he would acknowledge is far harder and far more demanding after being away on the road away from his wife and two young kids,” said Kennedy. The former Texas congressman is currently on a solo road trip talking to voters in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico as he contemplates a presidential bid.

“The question is whether he has not just the drive but the desire to want to make that sacrifice and ask his family make that sacrifice all over again. And I think that takes some time trying to put those pieces, to try and figure that out,” Kennedy said.

Read more: https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/28/hillary-chabot-kennedy-gains-friends-as-dems-ready-for-2020/