 Born in Centreville, Mississippi, Kennedy graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia School of Law before attending Magdalen College at the University of Oxford.Kennedy was a member of the staff of Governor Buddy Roemer before unsuccessfully running as the Democratic candidate for state attorney general in 1991.In 1999, he was elected Louisiana State Treasurer; he was re-elected to that position in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015.