Jim Kenney facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jim Kenney
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| 99th Mayor of Philadelphia | |
| In office January 4, 2016 – January 1, 2024 |
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| Preceded by | Michael Nutter |
| Succeeded by | Cherelle Parker |
| Member of the Philadelphia City Council from the at-large district |
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| In office January 6, 1992 – January 29, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | George Burrell |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
James Francis Kenney
August 7, 1958 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | La Salle University (BA) |
James Francis Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who served as the 99th mayor of Philadelphia from 2016 to 2024. Kenney was first elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey after winning the crowded Democratic primary contest by a landslide on May 19.
Before he became mayor, Kenney was a member of the Philadelphia City Council for 23 years, serving as a Councilman at Large from January 1992 until January 29, 2015, when he resigned to run for mayor.
Kenney was re-elected to a second term as mayor on November 5, 2019.
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Early life
Jim Kenney was born on August 7, 1958, in the Whitman neighborhood of South Philadelphia. His father was a firefighter and his mother was a homemaker. His parents both worked second jobs to put Jim and his four siblings through private Catholic schools. In high school, Kenney was a newspaper deliveryman and busboy. Kenney graduated from Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in 1976 and in 1980 received a political science bachelor's degree from La Salle University. He was the first in his family to graduate from college.
Philadelphia City Council
Kenney was elected to his first term in 1991 when he was 32 years old. During his time on Philadelphia's City Council, Kenney served as Chairman of the Council Committee on Labor and Civil Service. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Rules, Committee on the Environment, and Committee on Law and Government, and was a member of the Committee on Public Safety, Technology and Information Services, Public Property and Public Works, Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation, Public Health and Human Services, and the Legislative Oversight Committee.
In 2010, Kenney sided with the local firefighters' union when Mayor Nutter took action to remove the collective bargaining rights of paramedics.
..... The bill replaced incarceration with the requirement to pay a fine. .....
Kenney garnered criticism from local and national economic commentators when he proposed bonus pension payments, distributing funds when pension plans exceed target returns in any given year even though solvency depends on retaining above-average earnings to prepare for years with below-average earnings.
While on the Philadelphia City Council, Kenney worked as a consultant at Vitetta Architects and Engineers, served on the Independence Blue Cross board, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He gave up these positions when he was elected mayor in 2015.
Mayor of Philadelphia
Elections
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter could not run for re-election to a third consecutive term due to the home-rule charter's two-term limit. Registered Democrats hold a formidable 7-to-1 ratio over registered Republicans in Philadelphia, giving Democratic candidates a distinct advantage in citywide elections. The mayoral primary elections were held on May 19, 2015. Kenney won the primary in a landslide with 55.83% of the vote, defeating a crowded field of five other Democratic candidates, including Anthony H. Williams and former District Attorney Lynn Abraham. Republican Melissa Murray Bailey, a business executive, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. Kenney won with 85.1% of the vote. Kenney was inaugurated as the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia on January 4, 2016.
Kenney was reelected as mayor in 2019. The Democratic primary was held on May 21, 2019, and he defeated former City Controller Alan Butkovitz and Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams with 67% of the vote. On November 5, 2019, Kenney won re-election by defeating Billy Ciancaglini, a Philadelphia defense attorney and fellow La Salle grad, in the general election with more than 80% of the vote.
First term (2016–2020)
Education
Sugary drinks tax
Kenney proposed a citywide soda tax that would raise the price of soda at three cents per ounce, originally with the intent to raise money for universal pre-k. At the time, it was the biggest soda tax proposal in the United States. Kenney promoted using tax revenue to fund universal pre-K, jobs, and development projects, which he expected would raise $400 million over five years, all the while reducing sugar intake by decreasing the demand for sugary beverages Kenney's soda tax proposal was brought to the national spotlight and divided key members of the Democratic Party. The idea of a soda tax quickly became a national issue. Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election gave their take. Senator Bernie Sanders said that the tax would hurt the poor. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, said that she was "very supportive" of the idea. The lobbying organization American Beverage Association took a stand against Kenney's proposal. The trade organization, funded by soda companies and distributors, ran local television, radio, and newspaper advertisements against the idea, claiming that the tax would disproportionately hurt the poor. The American Heart Association, on the other hand, has supported Kenney's efforts. On June 16, 2016, the soda tax passed with a 13–4 vote from City Council. The initial proposal of three cents per ounce was lowered to 1.5 cents per ounce. The tax was implemented at the start of the 2017 calendar year.
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After the tax took effect, Kenney said retailers' price gouging blamed on the tax and charging the tax on items not subject to it was "wrong" and "misleading". In February 2017, soda manufacturers and retailers announced sales declines of 30–50% in Philadelphia and announced layoffs for March. The city called the predicted layoffs "fear-mongering". While the tax was projected to raise about $2.7 million in its first month, far below the estimate of $7.6 million per month, the city expected that figure to rise.
In March 2017, Pepsi announced plans to lay off between 80 and 100 employees, and blamed this on the tax. The city stated the program had created 251 jobs, mostly full-time pre-K teaching positions and said the soda industry was "holding hostage the jobs of hard-working people in their battle to overturn the tax. Pepsi reported nearly $35 billion in gross income and $6 billion in profit last year.... The idea that they can afford to do that but 'must lay off workers' should make every Philadelphian very skeptical of whether these layoffs are actually due to the tax." The layoffs would occur at plants in Philadelphia and Wilmington which are run as independent businesses.
In May 2019, the University of Pennsylvania released a study describing the aftermath of the soda tax, two years later. Total volume sales of taxed beverages in Philadelphia decreased by 1.3 billion ounces (from 2.475 billion to 1.214 billion) or by 51.0% after tax implementation. Volume sales in the Pennsylvania border zip codes, however, increased by 308.2 million ounces (from 713.1 million to 1.021 billion), offsetting 24.4% of the decrease in Philadelphia's sales volume.
The sugary drinks tax became an issue in the 2019 mayoral election, with the American Beverage Association spending $521,196 to run advertisements opposing Kenney's reelection.
Local control
In October 2017, Mayor Kenney announced that the city was taking back control of its public schools after sixteen years of state control. In an address to City Council, Kenney outlined the end of the state-dominated School Reform Commission and a path to local control of the Philadelphia School District by July 1, 2018.
Climate change
Kenney has committed the City of Philadelphia to reduce air pollution and city-wide emissions with specific projects aimed at reforming their respective transit and buildings sectors, areas which are typically responsible for 80 percent total of all citywide emissions and over which mayors have significant authority.
Opposition to Donald Trump
Before and after Donald Trump's election as President in 2016, Kenney has taken a vocal stand against Trump and his policies. Kenney has maintained that Philadelphia will continue to act as a sanctuary city despite threats that cities would stop receiving federal funding. Trump said, "Here in Philadelphia, murder has been steady—I mean—just terribly increasing."
Kenney, along with Democratic colleagues Representative Dwight Evans, Senator Bob Casey Jr., Councilwoman Helen Gym, and Governor Tom Wolf, joined protesters at Philadelphia International Airport after Trump signed Executive Order 13769 to ban travel from seven majority-Muslim countries.
On October 23, 2019, Kenney endorsed Elizabeth Warren for president in 2020.
On November 6, while the US awaited the final few results of the 2020 election, Kenney gave remarks aimed at Donald Trump: "What the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on, acknowledge that he lost, and congratulate the winner." The statement was made in the interest of the nation moving forwards, and Kenney cited several former presidents and presidential candidates, including George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore.
Second term (2020–2024)
COVID-19 pandemic
In March 2020, Kenney declared state of emergency amid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. The pandemic has resulted in severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. ..... Kenny has referred to COVID as a "nuclear bomb" because of the way it affected the city.
2020 Black Lives Matter protests
During the summer of 2020, Kenney approved the use of CS gas on protestors during a peaceful protest, who were blocking traffic, on Interstate 676.
In response to protests over the murder of George Floyd, Kenney had the Center City statue of Frank Rizzo removed in June 2020.
Personal life
Kenney has two adult children, Nora and Brendan, with his former wife Maureen. Kenney and Maureen separated in 2010. They formally divorced in 2018.
Kenney is engaged to Letitia Santarelli. Santarelli was the head coach of the St. John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic School girls basketball team, taking the school to the state championship. The couple started dating in 2015. Kenney first made his relationship with Santarelli public when she accompanied him to Iceland as part of a cultural exchange to mark the first-ever direct flights between Reykjavík and Philadelphia in 2017.
Kenney has been an annual participant in Philadelphia's Mummers Parade.
See also
- List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States
- List of La Salle University people
