John Kennedy (born November 21, 1951, Centreville, Mississippi, U.S.) is an American politician who was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2016 and began representing Louisiana the following year. He previously was the state treasurer (2000–17).
Kennedy was born in Centreville, Mississippi, but raised in nearby Zachary, Louisiana, a small town about 15 miles (25 km) north of Baton Rouge. He attended Vanderbilt University (B.A., 1973), where he studied philosophy, economics, and political science and was president of his senior class. After graduating in 1973, he studied law at the University of Virginia, from which he earned a jurisdoctorate (1977), and at the University of Oxford, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree (1979) in civil law. He subsequently returned to Louisiana and entered private practice, becoming a partner in the law firm of Chaffe McCall.
In 1990 Kennedy was appointed secretary to the cabinet of Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, a Republican for whom he had worked as special legal counsel. Roemer named him secretary of the Louisana Department of Revenue in 1996. Three years later Kennedy was elected state treasurer, and he took office in 2000. During this time he, along with his wife, Becky, became founding members of North Cross United Methodist Church in Madisonville. He ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in 2004, losing to U.S. Representative David Vitter. Three years later, Kennedy changed his party affiliation to Republican but was again defeated in 2008. In 2016 he staged a third bid, this time to replace Vitter, who was retiring. Kennedy ran on a campaign that emphasized fiscal conservativism and that highlighted his position as a Washington outsider. In addition, he was a vocal supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the eventual winner. In the November general election, Kennedy placed first in a field of 24 candidates with about 25 percent of the vote, requiring a runoff. He easily won the second election in December.