A well-known Trump supporter joining the board of the institute that bears Ted Kennedy’s name?
Sounds strange. Maybe a little awkward or controversial. But bringing David Urban into leadership at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute fits right in with the Boston organization’s push for bipartisanship. The institute announced earlier this month that Urban had joined the board.
Under board chair Bruce Percelay, a Boston-based developer, the EMK Institute is trying to go beyond accommodating tourists and school field trips at its signature Dorchester building, which features a full-sized replica of the US Senate chamber, to focus on a broader policy mission: encouraging bipartisan politics. It’s a mission that the institute’s namesake, Ted Kennedy, understood and practiced during his several decades representing Massachusetts in the Senate.
Toward that end, the EMK Institute has held televised debates between prominent Democrats and Republicans, and encouraged leaders from both parties to attend confabs at the institute’s homestead in Hyannis. The EMK board already includes several Republicans, including former US senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Mel Martinez of Florida. But it was important to Percelay to bring someone on board with ties to Donald Trump, particularly now that Trump is back in the White House.
“There was nobody better at reaching across the aisle than Ted Kennedy,” Percelay said. “This, to me, is emblematic of how Ted Kennedy would have functioned. You can’t make progress or make change by talking in an echo chamber.”
Enter David Urban, a lawyer, lobbyist, and CNN commentator. He was once chief of staff for then-senator Arlen Specter, working on Capitol Hill for five years during Ted Kennedy’s tenure. Urban helped Trump win over Pennsylvania voters in 2016. More recently, he got to know Joe Kennedy III during the former Massachusetts congressman’s Senate campaign, and the two hit it off. (Joe Kennedy, grandnephew of Ted, is on the EMK Institute board, as is former Rhode Island congressman Pat Kennedy, a son of Ted’s.)
Urban owns a house on Nantucket, which is how he came to know Percelay, who publishes N Magazine on the island. Percelay, Urban recalled, invited him to Hyannisport to learn more about the institute.
The institute’s mission dovetailed with Urban’s political beliefs. With 60 votes needed to pass most major bills, bipartisanship is crucial to getting things done in the Senate, Urban said.
“The Institute really serves an important role in maintaining that bipartisan flame of the Senate,” Urban said. “I’m happy to put my shoulder to the wheel and get some more folks up here who are Republicans, and help expand the mission.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.