Rep. Joe Kennedy III: Sen. Markey's appeal among young progressives 'mystifying'

Massachusetts congressman and Senate primary candidate Joe Kennedy III reveals to Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff that he finds the appeal of his primary opponent, incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, among progressives and millennials “mystifying.” Kennedy points to Markey’s record on immigration and his support for the Iraq War as two issues where Markey has previously broken with progressive Democrats, yet he manages to retain their support.

Video Transcript

DANIEL KLAIDMAN: Ed Markey seems to lately have gotten hot among young voters. There's the Green New Deal maker ad that went viral, memes about his Nike sneakers, and there are polls that show him leading you by wide margins, particularly among voters under 30. How is it that this Boomer-- who is more than 30 years older than you-- seems to be winning the kids and the internet?

JOSEPH KENNEDY III: That's a great question. So, the first part on this, right-- which is I think the inconsistency in the polling and-- a pollster had sent me just a quick look at two public polls, one of which had Senator Markey up 50 points amongst young people, and then another poll five days later that had me up 11. A 61-point swing in four days. Nothing happened in four days-- I mean, stuff happened. But nothing to perpetuate a 60-point swing amongst a critical portion of the electorate.

But your point. He had an ad that went viral. He's obviously-- some of his-- he's been able to tap into-- I think-- this fervor from a progressive left. I think it is-- part of that is a bit puzzling to me, because I don't think that the policy positions that the progressive left claims to support are reflective of Senator Markey's record.

Senator Markey's record on a number of the critical issues over the course of the past 30 or 40 years is actually very much in line with Vice President Biden, if not even further to the right than Vice President Biden, particularly when it comes to immigration and even racial justice. That being said, the progressive left is holding Joe Biden's feet to the fire and demanding that he move leftward, but is giving Senator Markey a complete and total pass. And that's the part that I-- I do-- has been a bit mystifying to me.