A Kennedy prepares for return to Congress

Joseph Kennedy wants the Massachusetts seat now held by retiring Congressman Barney Frank.

Kennedy, the son of former US Representative Joseph Kennedy, said he would work hard to earn every vote and if elected would bring the “fight for fairness to the US Congress”.

The Democrat added: “I believe this country was founded on a simple idea: that every person deserves to be treated fairly, by each other and by their government, but that’s not happening in America any more.”

Mr Kennedy, 31, recently moved to part of a newly-redrawn Congressional district in suburban Boston with deep ties to the family.

His grandfather, Senator Robert Kennedy, was shot dead at the age of 42 in June 1968 at an hotel in Los Angeles.

The Kennedy family has seen its Washington influence fade in recent years as younger generations shunned public office.

The death of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy’s great-uncle, in 2009 left a void and the retirement last year of his son, Rhode Island’s Representative Patrick Kennedy, marked the first time in 63 years that a Kennedy was not serving in elected office in Washington.

Joseph Kennedy, a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, has not previously held elective office, but he and his twin brother Matt worked on Edward Kennedy’s final re-election campaign in 2006.

He has most recently been working as a district attorney. Last month, he announced his engagement to Lauren Birchfield, a fellow Harvard Law School graduate.