Career
He served in the State Assembly 1804-1806 and 1808-1811 where he was Speaker for the 1810 and 1811 sessions. He was elected to the New Jersey Legislative Council, the precursor to the New Jersey Senate, from 1813 to 1815. He served as Vice-President of Council from 1814 to 1815.
In that capacity he was the acting governor of New Jersey from June 19, 1815, when Governor William Sanford Pennington resigned to become a federal judge, to October 25, 1815.
He was succeeded as governor by Mahlon Dickerson. Kennedy is excluded from many official listings, in spite of the fact that he acted as governor for about four months.
