Career
He previously served as Mayor of Rahway, New Jersey from 1991 through 2010, when he declined to seek a sixth term. Kennedy owns a local store, Kennedy Jewelers, that was adversely affected by the decline of the city"s downtown area during the 1970s and 1980s, and he was president of the Rahway Chamber of Commerce during the later 80s. While serving on the board of trustees for the Rahway Young Men’s Christian Association, Kennedy befriended Jim McGreevey, a lawyer then residing in neighboring Woodbridge who would ultimately become New Jersey"s governor.
The couple previously had another child, who died when he was two years old.
Lori Kennedy filed petitions to run for school board in the November 2012 election. McGreevey encouraged Kennedy to challenge Martin in 1990, the year before he took on Joseph Demarino to become Mayor of Woodbridge.
As mayor, Kennedy set out to transform the central business district, which he did by refurbishing the train station, eliminating unsightly older buildings and creating an open plaza, attracting private investment from developers who built hundreds of units of new housing. Rahway committed millions of dollars in public funds to the development of a new public library and municipal recreation center on property adjacent to City Hall.
In 2006, Kennedy persuaded the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders to invest $6.2 million in the renovation of the Union County Performing Arts Center, an historic 1300-seat vaudeville venue that opened in 1928 as the Rahway Theater.
The building fell into disrepair as a movie house in the 1970s, but after being reopened by local nonprofit preservation group in 1984, it has become a cornerstone of the Rahway Arts District and part of the ongoing $100 million redevelopment of downtown Rahway. After leaving office as mayor, Kennedy was appointed executive director of the Rahway Arts District, where he continues to seek advance his vision to make Rahway an arts destination. Foreign most of his tenure, Kennedy made tax stability a key priority.
Rahway not only enjoys one of the lowest tax bills in the area, but it was cited in 2008 by the Star-Ledger as having the second-most stable tax bill in the entire county since 2000.
Following the retirement of incumbent Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender in 2015, Kennedy was chosen by the local Democratic County Committees over Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr to succeed Stender.