Edward Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Edward Kennedy (Democratic Party) was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate, representing the 1st Middlesex District. He assumed office on January 2, 2019. He left office on October 1, 2025.
Kennedy (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Massachusetts State Senate to represent the 1st Middlesex District. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Kennedy died on October 1, 2025.[1]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Kennedy was assigned to the following committees:
- Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets, Chair
- Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Joint Committee
- Elder Affairs Joint Committee (decommissioned)
- Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Joint Committee
- Higher Education Joint Committee
- Municipalities and Regional Government Joint Committee, Vice Chair
- Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Joint Committee
2021-2022
Kennedy was assigned to the following committees:
- Community Development and Small Businesses Joint Committee, Senate vice chair
- Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Joint Committee
- Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Joint Committee
- Financial Services Joint Committee
- Higher Education Joint Committee
- Municipalities and Regional Government Joint Committee
- Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Joint Committee, Senate chair
2019-2020
Kennedy was assigned to the following committees:
- Election Laws Joint Committee
- Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Joint Committee
- Elder Affairs Joint Committee (decommissioned)
- Community Development and Small Businesses Joint Committee, Vice Chair
- Higher Education Joint Committee
- Municipalities and Regional Government Joint Committee
- Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Joint Committee, Chair
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Massachusetts State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy defeated Karla Miller in the general election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy (D) | 63.4 | 40,887 | |
| Karla Miller (R) | 36.3 | 23,422 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 147 | ||
| Total votes: 64,456 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy advanced from the Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 3, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy | 98.8 | 10,222 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.2 | 124 | ||
| Total votes: 10,346 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Karla Miller advanced from the Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 3, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Karla Miller | 99.0 | 3,827 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.0 | 38 | ||
| Total votes: 3,865 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kennedy in this election.
2022
See also: Massachusetts State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy won election in the general election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy (D) | 97.4 | 32,003 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.6 | 847 | ||
| Total votes: 32,850 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy advanced from the Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 6, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy | 100.0 | 10,538 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 10,541 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
See also: Massachusetts State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy won election in the general election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy (D) | 98.8 | 56,791 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.2 | 706 | ||
| Total votes: 57,497 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Incumbent Edward Kennedy advanced from the Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 1, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy | 99.2 | 21,890 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 177 | ||
| Total votes: 22,067 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Edward Kennedy defeated John MacDonald in the general election for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy (D) | 63.9 | 35,068 | |
 | John MacDonald (R) | 36.1 | 19,825 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 15 | ||
| Total votes: 54,908 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
Edward Kennedy defeated John Drinkwater, Rodney Elliott, Terry Ryan, and William Martin Jr. in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward Kennedy | 26.6 | 4,679 | |
| John Drinkwater | 23.9 | 4,212 | ||
 | Rodney Elliott | 20.2 | 3,557 | |
| Terry Ryan | 16.1 | 2,841 | ||
| William Martin Jr. | 13.1 | 2,312 | ||
| Total votes: 17,601 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District
John MacDonald advanced from the Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John MacDonald | 100.0 | 4,778 |
| Total votes: 4,778 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Edward Kennedy did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Edward Kennedy did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Edward Kennedy did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2025.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on bills of interest to an organization that pledges "to make government more transparent, make fiscally responsible choices, and to hold the line on taxes."
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on their sponsorship of legislation related to animal issues.
- The Freedom Index — Legislators are scored on their adherence to the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2024.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on bills of interest to an organization that pledges "to make government more transparent, make fiscally responsible choices, and to hold the line on taxes."
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on their sponsorship of legislation related to animal issues.
- National Federation of Independent Business — Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Progressive Massachusetts — Legislators are scored by the organization on votes that "can show the distinction between a progressive legislator, and everyone else."
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2023.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on bills related to transparency, fiscal responsibility, and holding the line on taxes.
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on their sponsorship of legislation related to animal issues.
- The American Conservative Union — Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2022.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on transparency and tax-related issues.
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on their sponsorship of legislation related to animal issues.
- National Federation of Independent Business — Legislators are scored on bills related to business issues.
- Progressive Massachusetts — Legislators are scored on votes that differentiate progressive lawmakers.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2021.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on transparency and tax-related issues.
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on their sponsorship of legislation related to animal issues.
- Progressive Massachusetts — Legislators are scored on votes that identify progressive legislators.
- The American Conservative Union — Legislators are scored on conservative issues.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2020.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on transparency and fiscally responsible bills.
- Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group — Legislators are scored on public interest issues.
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on animal-related sponsorships.
- National Federation of Independent Business — Legislators are scored on business issues.
- Progressive Massachusetts — Legislators are scored on progressive-priority votes.
- The American Conservative Union — Legislators are scored on conservative issues.
Below you can find the scorecards found for the Massachusetts General Court in 2019.
- Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — Legislators are scored on transparency and taxation-related issues.
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Legislators are scored on animal-related legislation sponsorship.
- Progressive Massachusetts — Legislators are scored on progressive-priority votes.
- The American Conservative Union — Legislators are scored on conservative issues.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Massachusetts State Senate 1st Middlesex District 2019-2025 |
Succeeded by Vanna Howard (D) |
