Democrat running for Congress says she will amplify residents’ voices
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – With fewer than 100 days to go before the Nov. 3 election, Democrat Amy Kennedy said she is not going to dwell on her own personal agenda or where her Republican incumbent opponent is lacking.
Instead, Kennedy said her campaign is going to focus on the priorities facing southern New Jersey in this unpredictable time when people are anxious about jobs and the coronavirus. She said people in the Second Congressional District are feeling the need for real leadership and vision on health and economic concerns along with social justice issues.
She also doesn’t plan to get bogged down in the negativity that rules the national political debate.
Kennedy is taking on first-term Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a career Democrat who attracted national attention late in 2019 when he announced he was switching parties and then helped bring President Donald Trump to a rally at the Wildwoods Convention Center in January. This district has had a Republican congressman for the last quarter-century – except for Van Drew until he switched.
Kennedy, who handily bested four other Democrats in the primary at the beginning of July, is now in a general election race in a district that has leaned conservative. She believes voters will respond to her message.
“I think it’s really about demonstrating that I am committed to making improvements in south Jersey, bringing real change, especially on priorities that so many people are concerned with,” she said, including jobs and infrastructure improvements. She believes voters want legislators who find ways to work together.
“People are growing weary of the divisiveness and kind of negative tone they’ve seen on the national level and want to hear from some new people who will put forward a vision for south Jersey that will bring more federal dollars to the area and investment in things not seen in the past, like mental health, that benefits all families.”
Kennedy, 41, of Brigantine, is a lifelong south Jersey resident who is married to former Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy. She campaigned in the Democratic primary invoking the names and images of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy. However, she credits her own family connections with helping win the election.
“It really for me was about the relationship that myself and my parents and extended family have had in the area for generations,” she said, citing that as helping overcome the fact she didn’t have the support of party bosses, who opted for Brigid Callahan Harrison. Kennedy also credited the strong grassroots outreach and phone banking done when COVID-19 restrictions stopped in-person campaigning.
She also said being a school teacher for years, when she had time to talk to so many families, allowed people to get to know her and her values.
She also was grateful that Gov. Phil Murphy endorsed her in the last few weeks before the primary election. “I think that was very helpful,” she said.
The reason she is not going to focus on other famous elected Kennedy family members is because she believes the general election “is more about talking through my connection to south Jersey. I think that it’s going to be really important to focus on the family I am raising, why I care about the way we’ve been represented so far and how we can do things differently.” She and her husband have five children.
“I think appealing to a broader audience means knowing what their concerns are, focusing on what they need to know to make an informed vote and to know I have their best interests at heart,” Kennedy said.
“I think that I’ll be able to bring a voice that will speak to my experience as an educator, as a mom, as a mental health advocate and lifelong resident of this district in a way that can really highlight some of the issues that we’re experiencing and that many families struggle with on a day-to-day basis,” Kennedy said, adding she wants to “amplify” the message of those in the community she knows are struggling.
Kennedy will have the party’s support in the general election and she is looking for ways to work together with others running for office.
She said there are a lot of people in the Democratic Party and unaffiliated voters who are “excited waiting for the campaign to kick into high gear. They see the momentum building for change in south Jersey and across the country.”
When asked if there are any elected officials that have inspired her, Kennedy said “everybody this week is going to give the same answer. We just lost (Congressman) John Lewis. It is hard not to think of him in this moment, his legacy and the great contribution to America.
“I was able to hear him speak on several occasions,” she said. “He was just so powerful as an orator and with his vision for the U.S. I think we all right now are probably thinking about him and the kind of hole he will leave in Congress and what (others) can do to stand up for people who’ve been marginalized.”
Kennedy said she is expecting the same type of negative attacks that are being played out on the national stage, but she doesn’t want to get drawn into that.
“I think I will respond by trying to stay focused on the issues that people are concerned with. As I mentioned earlier, people have grown tired of the attacks. Being able to talk to the things people care about and are worried about right now is where we should be focused. It’s not just mudslinging…. If it get into a personal back-and-forth, it’s a disservice to the voters.”
Asked to rate her opponent’s performance, she said she believes that Van Drew has not accomplished what he needs given that he has served the area for so long as a state senator and assemblyman and before that as a freeholder.
“A lot more can be done for south Jersey,” Kennedy said, citing “the lack of investment in south Jersey.” The region, she said, needs a legislator who can get that investment. “When we see someone serve for decades and we’re still struggling to see progress in south Jersey,” she said, that raises the question about effective representation of constituents’ values and priorities.
Voters “deserve to have someone who is willing to be out in front. To give them kind of an authentic representation that they elect the representative to do. When we’ve seen so many people struggling at this moment, I think the voters of south Jersey want someone who is going to be in it for them, rather than their own self-interest.
“This is a time we have to put other people first. It’s got to be about how we lessen the burden. So many people are isolated or stressed,” she said, adding she is ready to take those concerns to Congress, take action, pass legislation, get investment in south Jersey and stand up for what the voters want.