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.

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]}

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]