Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) has officially announced his appointment of former DNC chairman Paul Kirk, a Kennedy family friend, former Ted Kennedy staffer, and head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, as interim Senator in the late Kennedy’s Senate seat.
“Paul will not seek the open seat in the special election that’s coming up in January,” said Patrick. “But for the next few months he will carry on the work and the focus of Sen. Kennedy, mindful of his mission, and his values, and his love of Massachusetts.”
Sen.-designate Paul Kirk then addressed the media. He reaffirmed that he will not run in the special election, and he thanked the Kennedy family for their support, and discussed his own long-time friendship with Ted Kennedy himself. “To also have the encouragement and support of his family, that I be a voice and a vote for his causes, and his constituents, in the Senate that he loved, is a blessing I can only repay by giving my very best efforts to be the best public servant I can be in the few months ahead.”
Kirk also said that he is keeping Kennedy’s staff for the duration of his service, maintaining constituent service work that the office had been conducting.
