 He finished in first place in the November nonpartisan blanket primary and went on to defeat Democrat Foster Campbell 61%-39% in the December runoff before being sworn in on January 3, 2017.The Mississippi-born Kennedy was raised in Zachary, Louisiana in East Baton Rouge Parish.After graduating from Zachary High School as co-valedictorian in 1969, Kennedy entered Vanderbilt University where his interdepartmental major was in political science, philosophy and economics.