What's next for Joe Kennedy III after becoming the first Kennedy to ever lose an election in Massachusetts

• Following his loss in Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Joe Kennedy III became the first member of the family to lose an election in Massachusetts history, breaking a 26-0 streak going all the way back to 1946.
• Kennedy's star was so bright in the Democratic party that he gave their official response to Trump's 2018 State of the Union address.
• The congressman had to give up reelection for his House seat in order to wage his surprise challenge to one of the most progressive members of the Senate, so he won't be in the halls of Congress anytime soon after January 2021.
• Should former Vice President Joe Biden prevail over President Donald Trump in the election, Kennedy could nab a spot in the new administration.
• Speculation over Kennedy's future is premature for longtime Bay State insiders like former Rep. Barney Frank, who told Insider in a text message "A: Way too early to tell. B: Too much emotion still in play for anybody to try to decide anything. C: I don't have a story to write so I dont have to guess, D: All of the above."

Only Rep. Joe Kennedy III knows where his long term ambitions lie following his defeat to Sen. Ed Markey in Tuesday's Democratic primary for Markey's Senate seat — making him the first Kennedy ever to lose an election in the Bay State, breaking a 26-0 streak going back to 1946.

However, there are some limitations in the short term.

Barring some sort of extreme circumstance, Kennedy will not return to Congress anytime soon after January 2021.

He forewent reelection to his House seat in order to wage his surprise challenge to one of the most progressive members of the Senate.

Should former Vice President Joe Biden prevail over President Donald Trump in the election, Kennedy could nab a spot in the new administration.

A high-level cabinet position may be a stretch, but there would be plenty of other options. He could also go into the private sector.

A second Senate run would prove tricky, if not Sisyphean, for Kennedy.

As I reported with my colleague Grace Pannetta earlier in the campaign, a deep bench of younger rising stars in Massachusetts Democratic politics means a special election for Sen. Elizabeth Warren's seat, should she get a cabinet position, or Markey's in six years would be highly contested.

Kennedy's star in the party was burning so bright as of late that he was tapped to give the party's response to Trump's State of the Union address in 2018.

How much weight the Kennedy name still carries will be a factor in how party brass and a potential Biden administration see the grandson of RFK.

In a Politico Magazine analysis following Markey's victory, Peter Canellos — an editor-at-large at Politico and a former metro editor at the Boston Globe — underscored the severity of Kennedy's loss for the family legacy.

"Only voters old enough for retirement have real-time memories of the Kennedy administration," Canellos writes. "Even fewer feel the powerful sense of attachment that followed the Kennedy assassinations—the belief that this family's name was synonymous with enlightened public service."

"And much of what remains in photos and video clips of the once-famous Kennedy style is obnoxious to the public mood: Sleekly dressed men with sometimes leering eyes, captive spouses, cocktails and cigarettes."

For former Rep. Barney Frank, one of the most prominent non-Kennedy Bay State Democrats in recent memory, the emotional toll of the loss is too raw for speculation to begin just yet.

"A: Way too early to tell," Frank told Insider in a text message when asked what might come next for the congressman. "B: Too much emotion still in play for anybody to try to decide anything."

"C: I don't have a story to write so I dont have to guess," Frank added. "D: All of the above."

Read more:

• Ed Markey defeats primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy, in a major victory for the left
• Without mentioning Trump's name, Joe Kennedy delivered a searing critique of the administration and a unifying message for Democrats
• Why Rep. Joe Kennedy is mounting a primary challenge to one of the most progressive members of the US Senate