BRANFORD, Conn. — Bruce Wilson Jr. finds himself in rarified Republican company that includes Mitt Romney and Richard Nixon. Like those two before him, he is running against a Kennedy.

The school board member and Connecticut state Senate hopeful knew he faced a challenge when he entered the race against Ted Kennedy Jr., son of the late Massachusetts senator and nephew of a president and attorney general. He just didn’t quite realize the power of the Kennedy name.

“I’ve had people say to me, ‘I want to be part of electing the next president of the United States,’ ” Wilson said. “They’re thinking that they’re in on the ground floor of the next Kennedy ascending to the White House.”

Though Kennedy insists he’s looking no further than the open seat he’s running for in the state where he’s lived for 30 years, his name has been floated for numerous political offices over the years, both here and in the family’s home state of Massachusetts.

But the 53-year-old environmental lawyer insists the 36-member Connecticut State Senate is what ultimately makes sense for him, in his first run for public office.

“I think being a state senator is an important job,” said Kennedy, who has lived with his wife, Kiki, and two children in the shoreline community of Branford for about 20 years. “To me, being the people’s representative in Hartford is a huge responsibility.”

Even Kennedy seems surprised by the support he’s received in the 12th Senate District, where five of six small towns are run by Republican leaders.

More than 50 interns last summer signed up to volunteer for his campaign.

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