BOSTON — Joseph P. Kennedy III, a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, will announce plans Thursday to run for the Congressional seat held by Barney Frank, according to a campaign official.
Mr. Kennedy, who is 31, plans to release a video announcement in the morning and make his first official campaign stops later in the day.
“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 anymore,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement released Wednesday.
Last month, Mr. Kennedy announced his intention to explore a run for the seat, which is in the Fourth District of Massachusetts, leaving his job as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County shortly thereafter. Mr. Kennedy recently moved to the district, choosing the town of Brookline — the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, his great-uncle.
Mr. Frank, who has held the seat for more than three decades, announced last fall that he would retire at the end of this term, citing, among other factors, redistricting changes that removed liberal towns on the state’s southern coast and added more conservative towns in the Blackstone Valley.
Sean Bielat, a 36-year-old Republican businessman who in 2010 ran an aggressive race against Mr. Frank, has already announced his candidacy.
The race also includes some lesser-known candidates, like Elizabeth Childs, a Republican, and two Democrats, Herb Robinson and Paul Heroux.
Mr. Kennedy captured the attention of the state’s political establishment last year when he spoke in favor of bipartisanship and against what he called an ”atmosphere of hate” in contemporary politics in a speech before the Massachusetts legislature.
A victory by Mr. Kennedy would end his family’s short absence from elected office, which began last year when Patrick Kennedy gave up his Congressional seat in Rhode Island. It was the first time since the 1940s that no Kennedy had held a federal office.
