Fast Facts on Patrick Kennedy
May 4, 2006 — -- Rep. Patrick Kennedy, 38, represents the eastern half of Rhode Island -- a solidly Democratic district. Kennedy currently doesn't have any Democratic competition in the Sept. 12 primary. The filing deadline for candidates in Rhode Island is June 28, so that could change. A Republican challenger has not been announced.
Kennedy was first elected to Congress in November 1994. He chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2000 and traveled the country helping to raise $50 million for House Democratic candidates.
He is the son of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Joan Kennedy.
The Almanac of American Politics includes these Kennedy tidbits:
1. "One week after his second birthday came the terrible accident at Chappaquiddick. He grew up in McLean, Va., and had a somewhat troubled youth, spending time in a drug rehabilitation clinic in 1986 before enrolling at Providence College, at 20, in 1987."
2. "In March 2000, he shoved an airport security guard in Los Angeles, sending her backward and jostling the metal detector archway. A police complaint was filed, but the Los Angeles city attorney decided against prosecution. In an informal hearing in May 2000, Kennedy apologized to the woman.
"But she sued him in March 2001, and Kennedy said his insurance company would handle the suit. The insurance company, it appeared, had already been busy settling multiple damage claims against Kennedy by owners of sailboats he had chartered."
3. "In 2000 he appeared with Tipper Gore in Rhode Island and disclosed that he had been receiving treatment and therapy for manic depression."
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