Kennedy established his residency at an apartment building on 122 Bowdoin Street across from the Massachusetts State House.[77] With his father financing and running his campaign under the slogan "The New Generation Offers a Leader",[78] Kennedy won the Democratic primary with 42 percent of the vote, defeating ten other candidates.[79] His father joked after the campaign, "With the money I spent, I could have elected my chauffeur."[80] Campaigning around Boston, Kennedy called for better housing for veterans, better health care for all, and support for organized labor's campaign for reasonable work hours, a healthy workplace, and the right to organize, bargain, and strike. In addition, he campaigned for peace through the United Nations and strong opposition to the Soviet Union.[81] Though Republicans took control of the House in the 1946 elections, Kennedy defeated his Republican opponent in the general election, taking 73 percent of the vote. Along with Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy, Kennedy was one of several World War II veterans elected to Congress that year.[82]
Kennedy served in the House for six years, joining the influential Education and Labor Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. 