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National Peace Corps Association > News > Advocacy > Kennedy Election Increases House RPCVs to Five
Kennedy Election Increases House RPCVs to Five
By Jonathan Pearson on Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Joseph Kennedy III at the Peace Corps 50th anniversary memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery
Another member of the Kennedy family is about to join the United States Congress. And this individual has a special distinction.
Joseph Kennedy III, the great-nephew of President John F. Kennedy, is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), having served in the Dominican Republic from 2004 to 2006. On election day, he became the next Congressman from the fourth district of Massachusetts, winning 61% of the vote.
Kennedy’s election raises the number of RPCVs in the House of Representatives to five. A bi-partisan group of four incumbent RPCVs were all re-elected. In California, Colombia RPCV Sam Farr and El Salvador RPCV Mike Honda each received 73% of the vote in their re-election bids. Farr will begin his eleventh term in Congress, while Honda will begin his seventh term in office. Ethiopia RPCV John Garamendi will begin his third term in Congress in January. He was re-elected with 54% of the vote.
Somalia RPCV Tom Petri – the dean of the House RPCVs, was re-elected to an 18th term representing the 6th District of Wisconsin. Petri won re-election with 62% of the vote.
Dare I ask how any of the original four feel about term limits? They do represent some great longevity!
Joseph Kennedy III,
Congratulations! It’s good to have people serving in congress who have a sound knowledge of the world outside of our borders.
David Koren
I was elected to the Grand Junction City Council in April of 2010. How many other elected officials do we have?
(RPCV Tanzania & Kenya 1966-69)
Congratulations! We hope more women RPCVs will be serving in Congress soon.
How useful can these my fellow RPCVs be in a legislative body that will predictably vote along majority party lines in favor of everything regressive and nothing progressive. I noticed in the announcement that even the RPCV group is “bipartisan”. That’s interesting. In spite of my perception of reality, however, I am still glad that they are there. Peace out.