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Rep. Kennedy Visits Springfield, Still Undecided About 2020 Run For Mass. Senate

Massachusetts U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III in Springfield Wednesday with Heriberto Flores, president of the New England Farm Workers Council Inc.
Don Treeger

In Springfield Wednesday, Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III said he continues to weigh a possible 2020 run against incumbent U.S. Senator Ed Markey. 

Kennedy said the visit was planned well before his political announcement a few days ago. He filed the fundraising paperwork necessary to launch a campaign earlier this week.

Outside the Paramount Theater on Springfield's Main Street, he wouldn't say when he will announce his decision.

Some of what Kennedy said he sees in western Massachusetts is not unlike what he sees in his own district. The area is often eclipsed by Greater Boston, he said.

"There are other parts of the state," Kennedy said. "I represent an area in southeastern Massachusetts that sometimes feels we get overlooked in terms of opportunities for major infrastructure investment [or] major development."

Kennedy came to Springfield for a tour of the Paramount, which developer Heriberto Flores has long planned to renovate, and where a groundbreaking took place last month.

After introducing Kennedy, Flores joked that he hoped the congressman will help him rebuild the theater with some federal money.

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Jill Kaufman has been a reporter and host at NEPM since 2005. Before that she spent 10 years at WBUR in Boston, producing "The Connection" with Christopher Lydon and on "Morning Edition" reporting and hosting. She's also hosted NHPR's daily talk show "The Exhange" and was an editor at PRX's "The World."