Rep. Mark Kennedy (R) Elected 2000, 2d term
Born:	Apr. 11, 1957, Benson
Home:	Watertown
Education:	St. John's U. (MN) B.A. 1979, U. of MI, M.B.A. 1983
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Debbie)
Professional Career:	CPA, Arthur Anderson, 1978-81; Dir. of Finance, Pillsbury Co., 1983-87; Treas., Federated Dept. Stores, 1987-92; CFO, Shopko Stores, 1992-95; CFO Dept. 56, Inc., 1995-00.
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The earliest settlers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul came up the Mississippi River, or up the rail lines that were soon built on the bottomlands beside. They lived within walking distance of the mills and factories and railyards; as the first streetcars and then automobiles allowed them to live farther from work, they spread out in St. Paul and Minneapolis and then all around the lake-strewn countryside. The flatlands are bleak here when the winter sun struggles to shine through gray clouds. The lakes are often surrounded by, and sometimes indistinguishable from, swamps. Stillwater, an old lumber mill town built by pioneers on the hills above the St. Croix River, once nearly became Minnesota's capital, but later turned into an economic backwater, its Victorian structures ill-tended. Even so, the creativity and productivity of Minnesotans have turned this superficially grim countryside into some of the world's most pleasant suburbs. Taking maximum advantage of their lakes, they refurbished old towns and farmhouses and built comfortable homes in new subdivisions.

The 6th Congressional District is primarily a suburban district north of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It dips as far south as Stillwater and spreads north over Washington and Anoka Counties, just north of the Twin Cities, with a mix of upscale and working class suburbs. To the northwest, along the Mississippi River, are Wright, Sherburne and Benton Counties, which in the 1990s were among the fastest-growing counties in Minnesota. These were once rural areas, with here and there a small town and a small city as the county seat. Now this lake country is filling with new subdivisions and shopping centers, young voters usually from ancestrally DFL families who have become the key swing voters in the state recently. In 1998 this was Ventura Country: Thousands of people, many of them young and newly moved in, went to the polls on Election Day and registered to vote, for Ventura. He carried these areas with about 50% of the vote in a four-way race. At the same time, the newcomers tended to vote Republican for other offices and in 2000 to vote for George W. Bush. In 2002 these areas gave big margins to Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Governor Tim Pawlenty. Farther to the northwest, the district also includes the eastern half of Stearns County, a heavily German Catholic area and a stronghold of anti-abortion sentiment. The 1990s saw an influx of Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese people into St. Cloud, so that by 2000 there were more Asians than either blacks or Hispanics in the 6th District.

The congressman from the 6th District is Mark Kennedy, a Republican elected in 2000 in the old 2d District. He was born in Benson and grew up in Murdock and Pequot Lakes; his great-grandfather was a Swift County commissioner and his grandfather was mayor of Murdock. Kennedy graduated from St. John's University in 1978 and University of Michigan business school in 1983. He was a CPA with Arthur Andersen before becoming financial director of Pillsbury. His path up the corporate ladder led him to Cincinnati as treasurer of Federated Department Stores, to Green Bay as chief financial officer of ShopKo, and finally back to Minneapolis as a senior vice president at Department 56, before he ran for Congress in 2000--his first bid for elected office. During those years he did political work for Senator Rudy Boschwitz and he served in 1998 as state Republican platform co-chairman. With his strong business background and the slogan "Mark Kennedy means business," he said that he could help the district market its farm products abroad and bring more businesses to its small towns.

In 2000, Kennedy challenged incumbent David Minge, a "common sense Democrat," as Minge put it, who was first elected in 1992 by 569 votes in a district stretching west through rural territory to the South Dakota border. Kennedy campaigned on opening foreign markets to Minnesota's farm products, repealing the marriage penalty and the estate tax, and improving the district's roads. The national parties did not focus on this race until the final weeks of the campaign; Minge remained in Washington for much of October while Kennedy was busy campaigning at home. Kennedy was one Republican who benefited from the coattails of George W. Bush, who ran well in rural areas and carried the district with 52% of the vote. The initial count showed Kennedy the winner by 155 votes. Minge dropped his demand for a recount December 12, the day that the Supreme Court ended the presidential recount in Florida, with Kennedy's lead at 148 votes and 300 contested ballots remaining, so the 155-vote margin stood as the official tally. His margin of victory came from the three suburban counties west of Minneapolis, Wright, Carver and Scott, where Kennedy won 51%-45%.

In the House, Kennedy has a conservative-to-moderate voting record. As often is the case with freshmen who have unexpectedly won their seats, he made few waves legislatively and usually was a party loyalist. He took the advice of Republican leaders to build a large campaign war chest and to prepare for the next campaign. The most important decision that he made during his first term came after a panel of five judges issued the redistricting map on March 19, 2002. Kennedy's home was shifted inside the 6th District by 800 yards, but it included only Wright County from his old district, with just 14% of the old district's voters. Nearby Carver and Scott Counties, heavily Republican, were in the new 2d District. Other chunks of his district were divided among the new 1st, 2d, and 7th Districts. Republican John Kline, who had twice lost to DFL Congressman Bill Luther in the old 6th District, made the first move by quickly deciding to run in the new 2d. With secure incumbents seeking reelection in the 1st and 7th, that left Kennedy the option of running against Kline in a primary or running in the Republican-leaning but largely new territory of the 6th, which included Luther's home. Kennedy acted more resolutely. The NRCC polled the new 6th District and party leaders pledged to clear the primary field for him, Kennedy decided six days after the court decision to run in the 6th.

Two months later Luther decided to run in the new 2d; he lost to Kline in November. In July, Stillwater attorney Janet Robert announced her candidacy as a Democrat. She was anti-abortion and pro-gun, and had little political experience. But she had one attribute that endeared her to national Democrats: She was willing to spend lavishly on her own campaign. With her heavy advertising barrage, she attacked Kennedy for voting against corporate reforms, and she claimed that he misled shareholders when he was in the private sector. The St. Paul Pioneer-Press called her ads "among the dirtiest and most untruthful in the flood of negative ads this year." It turned out that she had her own boardroom controversy: A federal judge ruled that her family squeezed out some minority shareholders from their private company. Robert spent $1.6 million of her own money, which was the total of what Kennedy raised, but she had little to show for it. Kennedy won 57%-35%, far easier than expected, with at least 52% in each county.

Secure in his new district and with seats on the Financial Services and Transportation Committees, Kennedy is now in a good position to make his mark on both national and local issues.

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DC Office
1415 LHOB 20515, 202-225-2331; Fax: 202-225-6475; Web site: www.house.gov/markkennedy

State Offices
Buffalo, 763-684-1600; Hugo, 651-653-5933; St. Cloud, 320-259-0099.

Committees

• Financial Services (29th of 37 R): Capital Markets, Insurance & Government Sponsored Enterprises; Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade & Technology; Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (30th of 41 R): Aviation; Highways, Transit & Pipelines.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	7	0	38	25	100	59	95	96	92	92
2001	10	--	10	29	--	--	62	91	88	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	39%	--	61%		21%	--	73%
Social	20%	--	69%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	4%	--	87%		23%	--	76%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development Y 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court * 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Mark Kennedy (R)	164,747	57%	$1,891,653
	Janet Robert (DFL)	100,738	35%	$2,192,965
	Dan Becker (I)	21,484	7%	$22,996
2002 primary	Mark Kennedy (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Mark Kennedy (R)	138,957	48%	$886,650
	David Minge (DFL)	138,802	48%	$848,795
	Other	9,212	3%

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	152,977	52%
	Gore (D)	123,247	42%
	Other	15,954	5%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Sixth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 6
• District Size: 3,237 square miles
• Population in 2000: 614,935; 63.8% urban; 36.2% rural
• Median Household Income: $56,862; 4.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 26.9% blue collar; 60.3% white collar; 12.8% gray collar; 12.4% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 94.9% White, 0.9% Black, 1.4% Asian, 0.4% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 29.9% German, 10.0% Norwegian, 8.0% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.