Josephine Kennedy

Josephine Kennedy
72nd Governor of Massachusetts
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2023
Lieutenant	Kim Driscoll
Preceded by	Charlie Baker
43rd Attorney General of Massachusetts
In office January 17, 2007 – January 5, 2023
Governor	Deval Patrick Charlie Baker
Preceded by	Thomas Reilly
Succeeded by	Andrea Campbell
First Lady of Massachusetts
In office January 8, 2015 – January 5, 2023
Preceded by	Diane Patrick
Succeeded by	Charlie Baker (as First Gentleman)
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office March 17, 1995 – January 17, 2007
Preceded by	Stephen Breyer
Succeeded by	Sandra Lynch
Personal details
Born	Josephine Bouvier Kennedy (1965-11-20) November 20, 1965 New York City, New York, United States
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Charlie Baker (m. 1987)
Children	Catherine Josephine Caroline
Parent(s)	John F. Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy
Relatives	Kennedy family
Education	Harvard University (JD)

Josephine Bouvier Kennedy (born November 20, 1965) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist currently serving as the 72nd Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party and the Kennedy family, Kennedy previously served as the 43rd Attorney General of Massachusetts and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The youngest of two daughters of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, together with her sister Caroline, who currently serves as the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, Josephine is famously nicknamed "The Princesses of Massachusetts", owing to the sisters' dominance in Massachusetts politics, both at the federal and state levels. Her father John, in addition to being the 35th President of the United States, was also the 65th Governor of Massachusetts while her sister Caroline was President of the Massachusetts Senate from 2007 to 2009.

Born as the third child and youngest of two daughters of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, unlike her older sister, Josephine began her career in law as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female justice. In 1995, she was chosen by President Bill Clinton to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, a position that she held until 2007 when she successfully ran for the office of Attorney General of Massachusetts, becoming the first woman to hold the post. Meanwhile, from 2015 to 2023, Kennedy was the first lady of Massachusetts as the wife of then-governor Charlie Baker before later being elected to the governorship herself in 2023 succeeding her husband, becoming the first woman to be elected as Massachusetts governor and the first to have previously served as the state's first lady. Moreover, together with Levi Lincoln Jr., Kennedy, whose father previously served as governor from 1970 to 1983, is just one of two officeholders in the state's history to be a descendant of a previous officeholder.

Since 1987, Kennedy has been married to former Governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker, with whom she has three daughters. Despite their contrasting political affiliations, the couple, who largely share a moderate to liberal worldview, are considered a "power couple" in Massachusetts, with both having served as the state's governor. Since 2021, together with her sister Caroline and first cousin once removed Joe III, both of whom jointly serve in the United States Senate representing Massachusetts, the three Kennedys are the only members of their family currently holding elected offices and are considered to be a dominant force in Massachusetts politics, both at the federal and state levels.