Jimmy Kennedy

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Revision as of 17:26, 21 December 2008

Jimmy Kennedy
Senior Senator of the Wabash Valley
In Office: 2011 - Present
Preceded by	Regionalization
Succeeded by	Incumbent
70th Speaker of the Illinois General Assembly
In Office: 2007 - 2011
Preceded by	Mike Madigan (D)
Succeeded by	Regionalization
38th Secretary of State of Illinois
In Office: 2006 - 2007
Preceded by	Jesse White (D)
Succeeded by	Tom Cross (R)
Member of the Illinois General Assembly
In Office: 2001 - 2006; 2007 - 2011
Preceded by	Tom Cross (R); Mike Madigan (D)
Succeeded by	Jesse White (D); Regionalization
Born	20 April, 1978 Cleveland, Ohio
Political Party	Democrat
Spouse	Single
Children	{{{Children}}}
Profession	{{{Profession}}}
Religion	Roman Catholic

James F. Kennedy is the Senior Senator for the Wabash Valley and Chair of the Government, Regulations and Commerce Committee. He previously served as the 70th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and as the 38th Secretary of State, being a a member of the Illinois Congress since 2001.

Early Life

James Kennedy, the youngest of his family, was born in 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Andrew Kennedy and Mary Fastow.

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.

Enterning Politics

That same year, James found himself with political aspirations, and decided to fill in the papers to run for Attorney General. Unknown among Illinois, 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. 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 won the election, 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 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 was defeated in the Senate Leadership Elections to Seminole Senator Dmtri Kowalchuk (D-FL) in a close friendly election for the President Pro Tempore seat. Despite this loss, Senate Majority Leader Esther Cullen (D-KY) decided to trust Kennedy the GRAC committee gavel, very important due to the outcoming debate on the economy crisis.

Election Results