James J. Kennedy

James J. Kennedy
James J. Kennedy
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 22nd District
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 12, 2016 Serving with Linda Carter
Preceded by	Linda Stender
Mayor of Rahway, New Jersey
	In office; January 1, 1991 – December 31, 2010
Preceded by	Daniel Martin
Succeeded by	Richard B. Proctor
Personal details
Born	February 9, 1953 (age 71)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lori Kennedy
Residence(s)	Rahway, New Jersey
Website	Legislative Website

James J. Kennedy (born February 9, 1953) is a Democratic Party politician who has represented the 22nd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since taking office in January 2016. He served as Mayor of Rahway, New Jersey from 1991 through 2010, when he declined to seek a sixth term.

Career

Kennedy won his first nomination in the 1990 Democratic primary election, when he contested the re-election for Daniel Martin, who at the time had been mayor for 20 years. 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 1980s. While serving on the board of trustees for the Rahway YMCA, Kennedy befriended Jim McGreevey, a lawyer then residing in neighboring Woodbridge Township who would ultimately become Governor of New Jersey. After McGreevey became governor, Kennedy joined State Street Partners, a Trenton lobbying firm founded by Rocco F. Iossa, a former aide to Republican Congressman Dennis Gallo and counselor to GOP Governor Christine Todd Whitman. After McGreevey, resigned Kennedy started a business, Skye Consulting L.L.C., which has assisted local governments, redevelopment contractors and a foreign-owned water treatment and waste management utility company.^{[citation needed]}

Kennedy and his wife, Lori, a kindergarten teacher who retired in June 2011, have one son, Sean, who operates the jewelry store on a day-to-day basis. The couple previously had another child, who died when he was two years old.^{[citation needed]}

New Jersey General Assembly

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.^[1] He won the general election alongside incumbent Jerry Green that November.^[2]

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[3]

Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste (as chair)
Telecommunications and Utilities (as vice-chair)
Transportation and Independent Authorities

District 22

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly.^[4] The representatives from the 22nd District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[5]

Senator Nicholas Scutari (D)
Assemblywoman Linda S. Carter (D)
Assemblyman James J. Kennedy (D)

Electoral history

New Jersey Assembly

22nd Legislative District General Election, 2023^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda Carter (incumbent)	23,710	33.3
	Democratic	James Kennedy (incumbent)	23,123	32.5
	Republican	Lisa Fabrizio	12,272	17.2
	Republican	Patricia Quattrocchi	12,087	17.0
Total votes			71,192	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Democratic hold

22nd legislative district general election, 2021^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda Carter (incumbent)	32,267	31.26%
	Democratic	James J. Kennedy (incumbent)	31,593	30.60%
	Republican	David Sypher	19,825	19.20%
	Republican	Hans Herberg	19,546	18.93%
Total votes			103,231	100.0
	Democratic hold

22nd Legislative District General Election, 2019
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda Carter (incumbent)	18,703	40.25%
	Democratic	James Kennedy (incumbent)	18,099	38.95%
	Republican	Patricia Quattrocchi	9,665	20.8%
Total votes			46,467	100%
	Democratic hold

New Jersey general election, 2017^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	James J. Kennedy (Incumbent)	27,763	32.6	2.1
	Democratic	Jerry Green (Incumbent)	27,284	32.1	2.4
	Republican	Richard S. Fortunato	14,631	17.2	3.2
	Republican	John Quattrocchi	13,682	16.1	3.3
Total votes			'*85,120'*	'*100.0'*

New Jersey general election, 2015^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	James J. Kennedy (Incumbent)	12,087	30.5	2.2
	Democratic	Jerry Green (Incumbent)	11,769	29.7	1.5
	Republican	William "Bo" Vastine	8,076	20.4	2.5
	Republican	William H. Michelson	7,666	19.4	1.2
Total votes			'*39,598'*	'*100.0'*

References

^ Haydon, Tom (March 5, 2015). "Former Rahway mayor picked to run for Assemblywoman Stender's seat". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
^ Johnson, Brent (November 3, 2015). "Elections 2015: Democrats keep hold of Assembly's 22nd District". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
^ Assemblyman James J. Kennedy (D), New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.
^ New Jersey State Constitution 1947 (Updated Through Amendments Adopted in November, 2020): Article IV, Section II, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 28, 2022.
^ Legislative Roster for District 22, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.
^ "Candidates for General Assembly - For GENERAL ELECTION 11/07/2023 Election" (PDF). New Jersey Department of State. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
^ "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly For GENERAL ELECTION 11/02/2021 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
^ "2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
^ "2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2019.

External links

Legislative web page

New Jersey General Assembly
Preceded by Linda Stender	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly for the 22nd District January 12, 2016 – Present With: Jerry Green, Linda Carter	Succeeded by Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Daniel Martin	Mayor of Rahway, New Jersey January 1, 1991 – December 31, 2010	Succeeded by Richard B. Proctor

[StenderReplace-1] Haydon, Tom (March 5, 2015). "Former Rahway mayor picked to run for Assemblywoman Stender's seat". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.

[2015Election-2] Johnson, Brent (November 3, 2015). "Elections 2015: Democrats keep hold of Assembly's 22nd District". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.

[NJLEG-3] Assemblyman James J. Kennedy (D), New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.

[4] New Jersey State Constitution 1947 (Updated Through Amendments Adopted in November, 2020): Article IV, Section II, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 28, 2022.

[5] Legislative Roster for District 22, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.

[GeneralResults2023-6] "Candidates for General Assembly - For GENERAL ELECTION 11/07/2023 Election" (PDF). New Jersey Department of State. Retrieved December 6, 2023.

[GeneralResults-7] "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly For GENERAL ELECTION 11/02/2021 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.

[8] "2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019.

[9] "2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2019.

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v t e Members of the New Jersey General Assembly
221st Legislature (2024–2025) Speaker of the General Assembly Craig Coughlin (D) Speaker pro tempore Benjie Wimberly (D) Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D) Minority Leader John DiMaio (R)
▌Antwan McClellan (R) ▌Erik K. Simonsen (R) ▌Don Guardian (R) ▌Claire Swift (R) ▌David Bailey (D) ▌Heather Simmons (D) ▌Dan Hutchison (D) ▌Cody Miller (D) ▌Bill Moen (D) ▌William Spearman (D) ▌Louis Greenwald (D) ▌Pamela Rosen Lampitt (D) ▌Herb Conaway (D) ▌Carol A. Murphy (D) ▌Andrea Katz (D) ▌Michael Torrissi (R) ▌Greg Myhre (R) ▌Brian E. Rumpf (R) ▌Paul Kanitra (R) ▌Gregory P. McGuckin (R) ▌Margie Donlon (D) ▌Luanne Peterpaul (D) ▌Robert D. Clifton (R) ▌Alex Sauickie (R) ▌Vicky Flynn (R) ▌Gerard Scharfenberger (R) ▌Wayne DeAngelo (D) ▌Tennille McCoy (D) ▌Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D) ▌Anthony Verrelli (D) ▌Mitchelle Drulis (D) ▌Roy Freiman (D) ▌Joseph Danielsen (D) ▌Kevin Egan (D) ▌Robert Karabinchak (D) ▌Sterley Stanley (D) ▌Craig Coughlin (D) ▌Yvonne Lopez (D) ▌Reginald Atkins (D) ▌Annette Quijano (D) ▌Michele Matsikoudis (R) ▌Nancy Munoz (R) ▌Linda S. Carter (D) ▌James J. Kennedy (D) ▌John DiMaio (R) ▌Erik Peterson (R) ▌Dawn Fantasia (R) ▌Mike Inganamort (R) ▌Christian Barranco (R) ▌Aura K. Dunn (R) ▌Brian Bergen (R) ▌Jay Webber (R) ▌Rosy Bagolie (D) ▌Alixon Collazos-Gill (D) ▌Garnet Hall (D) ▌Cleopatra Tucker (D) ▌Eliana Pintor Marin (D) ▌Shanique Speight (D) ▌Avi Schnall (D) ▌Sean T. Kean (R) ▌Barbara McCann Stamato (D) ▌William Sampson (D) ▌John Allen (D) ▌Jessica Ramirez (D) ▌Julio Marenco (D) ▌Gabe Rodriguez (D) ▌Carmen Morales (D) ▌Michael Venezia (D) ▌Shavonda E. Sumter (D) ▌Benjie Wimberly (D) ▌Clinton Calabrese (D) ▌Gary Schaer (D) ▌Shama Haider (D) ▌Ellen Park (D) ▌Lisa Swain (D) ▌Chris Tully (D) ▌Robert Auth (R) ▌John V. Azzariti (R) ▌Al Barlas (R) ▌Christopher DePhillips (R)
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