First-timer wants to make ends meet
MILFORD — It was the final straw.
Kathy Kennedy had miscalculated her finances — she underestimated her share of her daughter’s Parent Plus College Loan — and needed to pay the bills. So she posted to Facebook.
“2013 Volkswagen Passat SEL for sale. Original owner, tires one year old. Well maintained. 63,000 miles. Great gas mileage. PM me for more information,” she wrote alongside a photo of the white fourdoor sedan.
That was in November. Four months later, Kennedy, a divorced single mother of two college-aged children who works three jobs in order to pay her bills, filed paperwork to run for the state legislature.
“I was trying to juggle and so I had to make serious decisions, and it just came to be, we need to make some serious decisions in Hartford too,” Kennedy said. “I ended up selling my car. I had to juggle bills. I’m so embarrassed, but it was a tough decision to have to make. I just thought, ‘I’ve already faced my biggest decision, I know what I need to do and I need to help other people find a way to make ends meet.’”
Kennedy is running to represent the 119th state House District, which includes parts of Milford and Orange. She originally threw her hat in the ring for the competitive 14th Senate district, the seat being vacated by Democrat Gayle Slossberg.
But after sitting down to talk with state Rep. Pam Staneski, who has served the 119th for two terms, the two Republican women decided Staneski would run for the Senate District and Kennedy would run her first ever campaign for the state House.
“I think I have a lot more name recognition in Milford,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s just a good fit for me.”
A long resume
Kennedy, who bears no relation to the famous political family, has lived in Milford nearly her entire life, and has worked for the city for 26 years. She’s spent the past 14 years as an administrative assistant in the law department, and prior to that in the fire Marshall’s office. In 1998, she became the first civilian woman in the state to earn certification as a fire Marshall and inspector.
She’s taken the minutes at nearly every city board and commission meeting for the past 18 years, and two years ago she picked up a weekend job with a catering company in Greenwich.
Her favorite TV channel is CT-N, she claims, and she said she stayed up past midnight watching the end of the budget session this year. She’s a dedicated sports fan who had season tickets for UConn women’s basketball for years, but gave them up when her son started playing football at the University of New Haven last year. This year, she’s in charge of organizing home game tailgates for his team.
Despite very little free time, Kennedy always thought she might run for office.
On the Trail
Now she spends her free time knocking on doors, asking for the signatures and the contributions she needs to qualify for a state elections grant. She needs to raise $5,100 in contributions of $250 or less and collect 160 signatures. As of last week she had $900 and a few dozen signatures to go.
She takes a list of addresses her campaign manager compiled and goes door-todoor in bright orange sneakers and a “Kennedy 2018” T-shirt with Snoopy on the back. In her tote bag she carries fundraising forms and campaign handouts, which she signs with her cell phone number and tucks into the door frames where no one answers. She’s also attempting to get on the Independent ballot — because having your name on the ballot twice never hurts — so carries a petition for that as well.
At one house last weekend, she quickly recognized the man outside, Al Corsi, and struck up a conversation, reminding him their children grew up together and asking how they are by name. He didn’t recognize her at first, but once he did, offered a hug and told her he’s glad she’s running.
“You’ll do a good job,” he told her. “What can we do to help?”
Just as she was about to leave, Kennedy sheepishly pulled out her fundraising forms and asked him to consider a $5 contribution to her campaign. Of course his family will donate, he told her.
At a door down the street, another man had once coached Kennedy’s son in football. It wasn’t difficult for her to convince either of them to support her either with their signature or financially. Both recalled her dedication to the city and her children’s activities, and had no doubt she’d put that same effort into a run for the state legislature.
From PTA to the Capitol
Two years ago, she was approached about running for a seat in the state Senate — to challenge Slossberg — but turned it down to serve as president of the Connecticut Parent Teachers Association, which she’s been involved with for nearly two decades. The PTA is where she gained her first exposure to the inner-workings of Hartford — she’s testified on legislation related to education issues and data privacy — and where she gained the statewide connections that could help her should she win.
“Something about being up at the legislative office building, you get this rush of excitement that you really want to get something good done,” Kennedy said. “It just felt like a natural next. The main reason I really decided to run, I’m a single mom, I’m divorced, my kids are adults — it just struck me as people in Connecticut, especially a single woman, or even a single man, are really working hard to make ends meet and barely getting by still, and I found that first hand.”
She doesn’t have a Republican primary competitor, but she still faces a touch race in November. Democrat Ellen Russell Beatty, a Milford alderman in her second term, is running against Kennedy and has a lengthy resume in higher education and health care.
The hardest part of running is not the competition, it’s asking for money. Kennedy, after all, worked three jobs and sold her car to make ends meet rather than ask for financial help.
“I can’t wait until I’m done with that,” she said.
But the more doors she knocks on and the more streets she walks, the further she gets from being an entirely new candidate.
“It’s getting easier,” she said.