The 1980 presidential campaign of Ted Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on November 7, 1979, as Senator Kennedy, the youngest Kennedy brother, announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1980 presidential election against incumbent President Jimmy Carter.
Kennedy benefited from President Carter's historically low approval ratings, reminiscing of his brothers' presidency and presidential campaigns, and support from the liberal faction of the Democratic Party. However, disorganization and ineffective campaigning allowed Carter to bridge the 2-to-1 polling gap following a rise in his approval rating due to his initial handling of the Iran hostage crisis.
Despite losing the majority of presidential contests Kennedy rose in the polls and overcame Carter in multiple states following another drop in his approval rating due to his poor handling of the hostage crisis and receiving prominent labor union endorsements. After failing to prevent Carter from gaining enough delegates to cause a brokered convention Kennedy attempted to release the delegates from their voting commitments which also failed. On August 11, 1980, Kennedy ended his campaign at the national convention after failing to have the rules overturned.
Kennedy's campaign was the last attempt by any member of the Kennedy family to gain a party's presidential nomination until Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 election. Despite having lost the nomination after leading Carter with a two to one polling advantage Kennedy's speech, "The Dream Shall Never Die", was viewed as the highlight of his political career and one of the most influential orations of the era. Kennedy's challenge to Carter was the last time any major candidate won states opposing an incumbent Democratic president in the primaries, with it being considered one of the major reasons Carter lost the 1980 election. It was the last time any incumbent president lost multiple states to an opponent.
Background
Following his brother's victory in the 1960 Presidential election his Senate seat was left open with Ted reaching the minimum age required to serve in the Senate by the time the special election was to be held. Ted won the special election after facing significant primary and general opposition and would be joined in the Senate by Robert F. Kennedy in 1964.
After his eldest brother's assassination, both he and Robert were floated as possible presidential candidates, with Lyndon B. Johnson concerned about the "Bobby problem". However, the push for another Kennedy candidate was focused on Robert and only a Draft Bobby campaign was launched in 1964 that gained significant traction in the New Hampshire vice presidential primary, but failed elsewhere. In 1968 Robert ran a presidential campaign, against the advice of Ted who urged him to wait until 1972, that vied with Senator Eugene McCarthy in the Democratic primary until his assassination after winning the California primary. Robert's delegates split and backed multiple different favorite sons and Ted was floated as a replacement for Robert with Governor Michael DiSalle pushing the idea. However, the plan failed to gain traction and Ted only received 12.75 unsolicited delegates of Robert's 393.5 delegates. Ted also considered being the vice presidential nominee, but later declined.
After the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 it was feared that it would be impossible for him to win a national race and despite calls for him to enter the 1972 race Kennedy chose to not run and instead supported George McGovern. However, in 1976 Kennedy stated that he would be open to a "genuine draft" or be the running mate to Hubert Humphrey due to the rise of Jimmy Carter who would most likely not support the agenda of the liberal faction of Democrats.
Carter administration
Relations between Kennedy and the Carter administration were strained due to disagreements over policy between the two who both held considerable political power; Kennedy's political celebrity within the party and Carter's holding of the presidency. The debate over healthcare was a point of contention between the two as despite having proposed health care reform that included key features of Kennedy's national health insurance bill and during the 1976 presidential campaign Carter had asked Kennedy to create a bill that would decrease federal spending and retain the role of private insurance companies, but later halted the bill due to budgetary concerns and political caution.Clymer, A Biography, pp. 245–247.Clymer, A Biography, pp. 269–270.
By late 1977 Carter reportedly saw Kennedy as a future challenger to his presidency. Ire between the two grew as Carter attempted to prevent Kennedy from gaining more official power in the Senate, including Carter's attempts to change Senator James Eastland's decision to retire to prevent Kennedy from taking over the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Announcement
On October 29, 1979, an official "Kennedy for President Committee" was formed causing multiple state level draft committees to disband, but the majority of these committees were restructured into official committees that suffered from a lack of organization. The same day, Kennedy legally became a candidate and informed the Federal Election Commission that the "Kennedy for President Committee" would be raising campaign funds on his behalf. On October 30, it was reported that Kennedy would declare his candidacy on November 7 in Boston. After spending the past weeks giving speeches critical of Carter, Kennedy announced on November 7, 1979, his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president, despite statements made by Kennedy's mentor and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill saying that he did not expect him to run, in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts where he made statements attacking Carter for his "lack of a clear summons from the center of power".
Shortly after his announcement a debate between Kennedy and Carter was arranged by The Des Moines Register and the Des Moines Tribune that was to be held two weeks before the Iowa caucus. According to a poll conducted by Time Kennedy was leading with 49% of Democratic voters with Carter behind at 39% and the remaining undecided. Similar results were found in a poll conducted by CBS and The New York Times showing Kennedy at 54% and Carter at 20%. On November 8, the National Conservative Political Action Committee announced that it formed a "Kennedy Truth Squad" to publicize Kennedy's legislative history and his actions at Chappaquiddick.
On November 4, 1979, he was interviewed by Roger Mudd and was later criticized for his rambling answer to "Senator, why do you want to be President?" as Kennedy was holding off his presidential announcement.
Jeffrey Hart described the first week of Kennedy's campaign as a snowman dissolving in early spring due to his poor performance during Mudd's interview. Governor Hugh Carey reportedly did not endorse Kennedy because of the interview, and described him as a plummeting star in private.
Campaign developments 1979 November
Kennedy conducted his first political rallies in New England and the southern United States. While he was campaigning in the southern United States a poll of 157 Democratic National Committee members was conducted by the American Broadcasting Company that showed Carter with 99, Kennedy with 44, Brown with 2, and 12 undecided.
In the early stages of the Iran Hostage Crisis, which had begun on the same day as his interview with Mudd, Kennedy criticized Carter for not having better contingency plans to protect Americans in the Iranian embassies. He also criticized Carter taking no action against rising inflation. However, by mid-November Kennedy stopped attacking Carter's response to the hostage crisis and started to criticize him as a continuation of the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
On November 18, he held a meeting at his home in Virginia with an invitation to all 104 presidents of AFL–CIO unions in an attempt to gain the organization's endorsement at its convention. The next day he met with leaders of the Communications Workers of America, which had over 600,000 members, where he was praised by the executive board members, but on November 20 the board voted 12 to 5 in favor of giving its endorsement to Carter.
Although Kennedy was a critic of Big Oil, Herbert Schmertz, vice president of public affairs for ExxonMobil, served as a volunteer to help create and lead the $21 million advertisement campaign for Kennedy. Kennedy later stated that Carter's decontrolling of oil would cost Americans $1,000 more per year causing Robert S. Strauss, Carter's campaign manager, to accuse Kennedy of using false information that was contrary to the Congressional Budget Office's estimates.
December
Although Kennedy had initially led Carter in polling up to the announcement of his presidential campaign, Carter's approval rating rose following the start of the Iran hostage crisis and an ABC–Harris poll conducted in November showed Carter leading Kennedy with 42% to 40% with Jerry Brown at 11%. However, Louis Harris stated that Carter's approval rating could fall as President Gerald Ford's had following the Mayaguez incident.
Kennedy criticized Carter for giving asylum to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in early December leading to bipartisan criticism of Kennedy, and Carter attacked Kennedy for the first time since he announced his candidacy stating that Kennedy's comments would delay the release of American hostages in Iran. Stephen Edward Smith, his brother-in-law and campaign manager, criticized Carter for using the hostage crisis to deflect criticism. A Gallup Poll conducted after Kennedy's statements showed Carter leading him with 50% to 37% with Kennedy's statements and over 70% of Americans approving of Carter's handling of the hostage crisis being cited as major reasons for Carter's rise in polling and in the general election it showed Kennedy narrowly defeating Ronald Reagan by 49% to 44% after polling in October showed him leading Reagan with 64% to 34%.
On December 13, he attended the United Mine Workers' convention where he criticized Carter's support of nuclear power and gave support to expanding the use of coal by designing every fossil fuel power plant to be able to burn coal. Despite his fall in polling Kennedy received multiple prominent endorsements in late December with Representative Mo Udall giving his endorsement to Kennedy on December 18, and on December 27, the rest of Massachusetts' congressional delegation endorsed him with Senator Paul Tsongas heading the delegation.
Campaign developments 1980
January
On January 3, 1980, his campaign became eligible for presidential campaign matching funds. Shortly before the debate, conducted by The Des Moines Register and the Des Moines Tribune, was meant to be held, Jimmy Carter announced that he would not be participating and later cancelled all of his appearances in Iowa.
Former Representative Allard K. Lowenstein stated that Kennedy was not going to win Iowa and that it would be difficult for him to defeat Carter unless the situations in Iran and Afghanistan changed before the February primaries. On January 21, Carter defeated Kennedy in the Iowa caucuses with almost 60% of the vote and 30 delegates to Kennedy's 15, however former Representative Teno Roncalio stated there "were still 14 rounds left to go".