Jimmy Kennedy

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Revision as of 15:48, 16 January 2010

Jimmy Kennedy
5th Governor of the Midwest
In Office: 2019 - 2021 Lt. Governor: Joan Calhoon
Preceded by	John Houston
Succeeded by	Megaregionalization
1st Chairman of the NGA Vice Chair: Governor Jefferson
In Office: 2019 - 2021
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Junior Senator from the Wabash Valley
In Office: 2017 - 2019 Served with Lincoln Winters
Preceded by	Angelina Stamford
Succeeded by	Charles Porter
2nd Governor of the Midwest
In Office: 2013 - 2017 Lt. Governor: L. Winters, A. Exley
Preceded by	Thomas Allum
Succeeded by	Angelina Stamford
1st Democratic Co-Chair of NGA Co-chaired with Governor Pizzuto
In Office: 2013 - 2017
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Senior Senator from the Wabash Valley
In Office: 2011 - 2013 Served with George Jameson
Preceded by	Regionalization
Succeeded by	David Vithoulkas
70th Speaker of the Illinois General Assembly
In Office: 2007 - 2011
Preceded by	Mike Madigan (D)
Succeeded by	Regionalization
Born	20 April, 1978 New York City, New York
Political Party	Democrat
Spouse	Chelsea Sink (1997 - 2001) Lilya Kennedy (2012 - Present)
Children	Alexandra Sink-Kennedy Jaime S. Kennedy Abigail Lilya Kennedy
Profession	University Teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

James F. Kennedy is an American politician who served as the 2nd, 5th, and last Governor of the Midwest. A Democrat, Kennedy represented the Wabash Valley in the Senate for one two-year term, before being elected Governor in 2012. In 2016, he declined re-election in order to run for Vice President, but his ticket was narrowly defeat. He was appointed to serve a new two-year term in his former seat, before returning to the Governor's Mansion in 2019. In 2021, after megaregionalization, he retired.

Prior to the formation of the Midwest, Kennedy served as the 70th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and as the 38th Illinois Secretary of State. He has the honor of having succeeded three long-time Illinois DNC Party icons: Mike Madigan as House Speaker, Jesse White as Secretary, and Dick Durbin as Senator.

Early Life

James Ferrer Kennedy was born in 1978 in New York City, New York, to Andrew Kennedy and Argentinian immigrant María Ferrer. The following year, the family moved to Ohio.

Coming from a family of lawyers, he was educated in a good public school of Cleveland. He'd become a very good student, getting a scholarship to study at Harvard University in 1996. In 2000, following the completetion of his Political Science degree, James moved to Chicago, Illinois, to teach History at the Illinois University.

Political Beginnings

In early 2000, James found himself having political aspirations, and decided to fill in the papers to run for Attorney General. Unknown among Illinois citizens, he began to campaign through every county to listen to voters and get his message through. However, this wasn't enough to win the nomination to the much more known Lisa Madigan. In his concession speech endorsing the future Attorney General, Kennedy was able to deliver a message that would gain him much support among the Chicago base, thus already preparing for his political future.

Illinois Legislator

In 2001 he'd run for IL House of Representatives, defeating popular two term-incumbent Tom Cross in a close recount in which Kennedy got just 19 votes more than his opponent. Despite being a freshman, he was already trusted many leadership duties and became a prominent member of the House Democratic Caucus. He was seen as a potential candidate for State House Majority Leader, Governor in 2003 and Senate in 2004, but declined to run every time. He continued pushing forward legislation which improved Illinois in many ways.

Secretary of State

In 2006, with the retirement of IL Secretary of State Jesse White, and former Republican Leader Tom Cross announcing his intentions to run for his seat, the Democratic Party found itself in need to find a candidate that would be able to succesfully challenge Cross. Despite his bad relations with Governor Blagojevich, the man who asked him to run, Kennedy accepted, and narrowly defeated Cross again by just 635 votes, becoming the 38th Secretary of State. His tenure in this office, however, wouldn't last for too long.

Return to the State Legislature: Speaker

Just 10 months later, Speaker Mike Madigan (D) announced his resignment and retirement from politics. Kennedy would have been interested to run for the leadership position had he been in the House, but denied intentions to run for Madigan's House seat (and later Speaker seat once in the House) due to his commitment to his recently elected office.

However, IL Democratic Party leaders, such as former Chicago Mayor George Jameson (who would later become his Junior Senate Partner) and Senator Barack Obama endorsed him to succeed Madigan, seeing him as the best possible replacement. After many drafts being launched, Kennedy accepted. He won in a landslide and was elected Speaker of the State Congress.

As Speaker, Kennedy fought for progressive agenda, most remarkably passing an outlaw of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and in the workplace and an environmental-friendly energy plan. He served from 2007 to 2011, when he succesfully ran for Senator.

Senator of the Wabash Valley

After narrowly defeating Congressman David Vithoulkas, and Vice President Hayes being confirmed by the outgoing Senate, Senator-elect Kennedy unsuccesfully run for the President Pro Tempore seat in the friendly (and close) Senate Democratic Leadership Elections. Dmitri Kowalchuk of Florida was confirmed instead.

Later on, Senate Majority Leader Esther Cullen (D-KY) decided to trust Kennedy the powerful GRAC committee gavel. He's been the most active Chairman, passing over 20 bills in the first weeks, and having held the important Auto Crisis hearings.

In 2012, with the removal from office of both Senator Morgenthau (D-WA) and Governor Flint (D-WA) and the elevation of Lt. Governor Morrison (R-ID), followed by the appointment of Senator Karcin (R-OR), the Senate changed hands and went to the Republicans. Due to this, Kennedy lost his gavel, but retained control of the GRAC DNC Leadership.

In an interview with Red Blanchard in "The Red Zone", Senator Kennedy announced he'd challenge Governor Allum in the 2012 Elections instead of running for re-election. Early polls showed a dead heat tie with Kennedy taking Michigan and Illinois and Allum taking Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. As the race continued, polls continued calling the race too close to call. After Governor Allum dropped out on the last week of campaigning for unknown reasons, Kennedy was officially elected.

Governor of the Midwest

Jimmy Kennedy was inaugurated the 13th January, 2013 as the 2nd Governor of the Midwest, 1st Democrat, and 1st Hispanic American in the whole nation since regionalization.

First Session (2013 - 2014)

With a strong majority of 55 seats in the Midwest General Assembly, Governor Kennedy focused on pushing forward many of his 2012 promises on social programs, as well as his eco-friendly agenda. As the session progressed, he managed to turn a 12 billion budget deficit into a 4 billion surplus with the support of the Minority Leader and the whole Assembly. Together with the budget, his economy recovery plan, which would help workers with job training and give tax benefits for new Midwest industries, got passed and signed into law.

In 2014, he finally completed the formation of his cabinet, which was labeled as competent, capable, and bipartisan by analysts, and earned him a big amount of praise. He soon became the region's most popular official according to most polls, and was chosen by his Democratic colleges in the NGA to co-chair the national organization with Republican Governor Pizzuto of Pennsylvania. Under him, the Assembly has introduced and debated over 40 bills, surpassing the Allum years; and unlike his predecessor, he's not found himself in disagreement with the Legislature too often, using the Veto Pen only once.

Second Session (2015 - 2016)

After the elections, the Democratic Majority in the General Assembly increased to 56 seats. In addition, the death penalty, which Kennedy has repeatedly supported, was legalized in a referendum, together with an Equal Pay Amendment, and a proposition to repeal Illinois' flat tax.

During the start of his second session, Governor Kennedy lost his Lt. Governor, who was appointed to a vacant Senate seat in 2015. Kennedy nominated Alvin Exley, a competent and professional former staffer of the Mayor of Chicago. Together, they passed even more "flagship agenda", with Kennedy demonstrating his "willingness and capacity for compromise". His popularity increased, reaching 60%, even higher among Independents. With no single vetos, Kennedy kept working on his 2012 promises, passing legislation to hire 10,000 new police officers, give hard-working teachers generous tax credits, and enact a middle-class tax cut; among others.

Vice Presidential Candidate

In 2016, James Kennedy was selected by Senate Majority Leader Jackson Rockefeller to be his running mate against Republican Governors Pizzuto and Pooty. On November, the two Democrats were narrowly defeated due to extremely close loses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. However, the duo did capture the entire Midwest, homeregion of Kennedy, together with the states of Missouri and Iowa, in which the Illinoisian frequently campaigned. With his term as Governor expiring, Kennedy retired back to status as private citizen.

Appointment to the U.S. Senate

After a few weeks retired from politics, Kennedy returned to public service, accepting her succesor in the Governor Mansion, Angelina Rockefeller's offer, to replace her in the Senate. Upon entering Congress, he was awarded the Chairmanship of the GRAC Committee, replacing Edward Wyatt, who had been elected President Pro Tempore. Through this two appointments, he returned 4 years later to the two seats he held from 2011 to 2013. His session was succesful, with his committee being called a "model for the whole Congress" thanks to it's bipartisanship.

Back to the Governor's Mansion

In 2018, with Angelina Rockefeller resigning as Governor, and the elevation of Republican Lt. Governor John Houston, Jimmy was once again encouraged by friends and family to run, this time to return to the Mansion. He defeated John Houston on Election Day, taking all five states and over 54% of the votes.

He returned to Springfield with a 54-47 Democratic Majority, and with his friend, Jaime Elzar-Toledo, as Democratic Majority Leader.Later that year, he was chosen by his fellow Governors to become the 1st Chairman of the National Governors Association since regionalization. His first major accomplished projects of his second Governorship were the establishment of an Universal Pre-K program, funded by Illinois' pre-regionalization preschool funds, and the expansion of the Midwest's Competitive Scholarship. He also renewed stimulus efforts, and created a fund to invest in technological research.

When the Midwest and the Heartland regions merged into a new megaregion, Kennedy decided not to seek re-election as Governor.

New Region Conventions

Despite his coming retirement from politics, Kennedy agreed to leading Democrats at the new region's convention. There, Kennedy's proposed name ("Jefferson"), flag, Constitution, Supreme Court, Cabinet and Senate delegation all passed with bipartisan support.

Personal Life

Kennedy met his first wife, prosecutor Chelsea Sink, in 1995, and married her in 1997. That same year, their first son Jaime Jr. was born, and later, in 2000, they adopted a Chinese 9-year old girl, Alexandra. Chelsea died in a plain crash in 2001, while campaigning for her husband.

In 2012, James met Lilya Richards, and after dating her for a few months, they decided to marry. Their first child, Abigail, was born in 2013. In 2019, Lilly, encouraged by her husband, succesfully ran for Congress.

Since retirement, he's worked as Political Science professor at Harvard University, where he obtained his degree.

Election Results

Political Succession