Mark Raymond Kennedy (born April 11, 1957) is an American businessman, politician, and university administrator. Following a career as a business executive, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007. Kennedy did not seek reelection in 2006, instead running in the 2006 election for U.S. Senate. He lost to Democratic–Farmer–Labor nominee Amy Klobuchar.
Afterward, he became director of the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management in 2012, until serving as the 12th president of the University of North Dakota from 2016 to 2019, and then becoming the 23rd president of the University of Colorado (CU) system, in office from 2019 to 2021.
Kennedy now serves as Director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition.
Early life and business career
Kennedy graduated from Pequot Lakes High School in 1975 and St. John's University in 1979. He began his career as a certified public accountant and went on to receive his M.B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in 1983.
Kennedy's business career included working for the Pillsbury Company, assisting with its acquisition of Häagen-Dazs and arranging for financing to support its international expansion. As a senior executive at Federated Department Stores, he helped the company position itself for growth to become, as Macy's, the world's leading department store. He was profiled in May 1992's Institutional Investor Magazine, which featured him as one of "America's top CFOs". At ShopKo Stores, he was responsible for merchandising, marketing and store management.
Political career (2001–2007)
U.S. House of Representatives
In 2000 Kennedy won the Republican nomination for the 2nd district and faced four-term Democratic incumbent David Minge. He had never run for political office before. In the closest congressional race of that cycle, Kennedy defeated Minge by 155 votes.
Leading up to the 2002 elections, although Minnesota did not gain or lose any districts, Kennedy's 2nd district—an enormous 28-county district stretching from the southwestern corner of the state to the fringes of the Twin Cities—was dismantled. Its territory was split up among four neighboring districts. Kennedy's home outside Watertown was just inside the reconfigured 6th district, in the Twin Cities' northern suburbs.
In 2002 Kennedy initially expected to face the 6th district's three-term Democratic incumbent, Bill Luther. But the new 6th was somewhat more Republican than its predecessor, and Luther opted to move to the reconfigured 2nd district, where he eventually lost to John Kline. Kennedy instead faced Janet Robert, a lawyer and longtime Democratic activist. In one of the most expensive congressional races in Minnesota history, Kennedy was elected with 57% of the vote.
In 2004, Kennedy faced child safety advocate Patty Wetterling. He received 54% percent of the vote to Wetterling's 46%.
2006 U.S. Senate election
Kennedy did not seek reelection to the House in 2006. Instead he ran against DFL nominee and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by DFL incumbent Mark Dayton. Also in the race were the Independence Party nominee, Robert Fitzgerald; the Green Party nominee, Michael Cavlan; and the Constitution Party nominee, Ben Powers.
Klobuchar won the election, receiving 58% of the vote to Kennedy's 38%.
Political positions
Kennedy's support of the proposed surge in the Iraq War during the 2006 Senate election was described as "bold and smart" on the Brit Hume show on Fox News (Fox News, Brit Hume Show, 12-27-06). Anderson Cooper, an anchor on CNN, said that "Kennedy doesn't ignore the elephant in the room. To the contrary, he looks it straight in the eye" (CNN, Anderson Cooper 360°, 10-25-06).
A proponent of free trade, Kennedy voted for giving the president fast-track authority and for the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
Kennedy supported the Bush tax cuts and voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, while co-sponsoring three other bipartisan bills that year that would expand stem cell research. His also sponsored a line-item veto, a lifetime ban on all members of Congress becoming lobbyists, full deductibility of medical expenses, no parole for sex offenders, and Medicare Plan Enrollment Fraud Protection.