Jimmy Kennedy

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Revision as of 22:03, 28 July 2009

Jimmy Kennedy
2nd Governor of the Midwest
In Office: 2013 - Present Lt. Governor: Alvin Exley
Preceded by	Thomas Allum
Succeeded by	Incumbent
1st Democratic Co-Chair of NGA Co-chairing with Governor Pizzuto
In Office: 2013 - Present
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	In Office
Senior Senator of the Wabash Valley
In Office: 2011 - 2013 Serving 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 Jeffrey S. Kennedy Abigail Lilya Kennedy
Profession	University Teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

James F. Kennedy is the current Governor of the Midwest Region and Democratic Co-Chair of the National Governor's Association.

Prior to becoming Governor, Kennedy was elected and served a 2-year term as the Senior Senator of the Wabash Valley. During his Senatorial service, he acted as both the Chair (during the DNC's Majority) and Ranking Member (during the GOP's Majority) of the powerful Government, Regulations and Commerce Committee. He previously served as the 70th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and as the 38th Illinois Secretary of State.

Kennedy has the honor to have 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 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)

Opinion Polls

As Senator (2011 - 2013)

2012

51% - Approve
38% - Disapprove
11% - Unsure/No Opinion

The Senator's fairly popular in his home region, but he's been unable to shake the prevailing opinion that he's been running a campaign since the day he was elected to office. Overly involved in the regional legislature, there's never been any mystery that the Senator's got his eyes on the Governor's Mansion.

As Governor (2013 - 2017)

2013

55% - Approve
39% - Disapprove
6% - Unsure/No Opinion

The new Governor's been fairly successful since taking office, passing a large chunk of his agenda through the legislature while the Republicans were still floundering, looking for an effective leader.

2014

57% - Approve
33% - Disapprove
10% - Unsure/No Opinion

The Governor has made significant inroads into the independent vote thanks to his readiness to compromise on any contentious issue -- even the ones he has more than enough votes in the legislature to win anyways. Some liberals fear he's moving away from their values somewhat in order to fuel his re-election, but it's tough to criticize a governor who gets results this effortlessly.

2016

61%- Approve
31%- Disapprove
8% - Unsure/No Opinion

Since taking office, Kennedy has made a kinder, gentler governor than he ever was as a Senator or campaigner. A prolific author of legislation, he's passed even more flagship agenda items this session and has demonstrated both a willingness and a capacity for compromise, endearing independents to his cause. He's seemingly done very little for any election opponent -- or Minority Leader -- to criticize with much traction.

Personal Life

Kennedy met his first wife, prosecutor Chelsea Sink, in 1995, and married her in 1997. That same year, their first son Jeffrey 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 Lilly Richards, and after dating her for a few months, they decided to marry. Their first child, Abigail, was born in 2013.

Election Results

Political Succession