Judith Flanagan Kennedy
Even as a youngster, Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy had her eyes on the sky.
She was 7 when Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon in 1969.
“My parents let me stay up until midnight to watch the moon landing because they knew how much I loved space,” she said. “I was fascinated and still am. My parents always told me I would become a female astronaut or a doctor.”
But her dream to become an astronaut died a decade later when the 17-year-old senior, who graduated sixth in her class at Lynn Classical High School, discovered she was afraid to fly.
“On a senior trip to Disney World, I got sick on the flight and hated the sensation of the G-forces hitting me,” she said. “I realized then that my career had to be earthbound. I knew from an early age that I would leave a mark on the world, I just didn’t know how.”
When a boyfriend suggested Kennedy become a lawyer, that seemed like a good idea.
“He knew I could write, reason, and speak persuasively,” she said. “I hated to fly, so I might as well attend law school.”
In 1991, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Kennedy learned two female members of the Lynn School Committee would not seek re-election.
“I thought School Committee might be a good place to start a political career,” she said.
Kennedy missed the deadline to file nomination papers, and conducted a write-in sticker campaign. The last-minute idea to run worked.
“I think I topped the ticket in the primary with my stickers and ended up topping the ticket in the final with my name printed on the ballot,” she said. “Once I got on the School Committee, I just loved the idea of making a difference in Lynn.”
She would later get elected to the City Council when then Councilor-at-Large Matt Wills ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1997.
“He gave me a heads-up that his seat would be available and told me I’d be a good candidate to replace him,” she said.
Kennedy would win that seat, but lost her bid for re-election to the Council seat in 2005.
“I didn’t just lose, I got annihilated,” she said with a laugh. “I came in last of seven candidates.”
Looking back, Kennedy said God works in mysterious ways.
That same year, Kennedy’s best friend, Michele Colter, was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. The five-year survival rate for the disease is 23 percent. At the time, Kennedy was raising her two children and working at a law firm.
“My heart was not in the campaign that summer and fall,” she said. “I didn’t try very hard because I was worried about Michele. But when I lost the race, it gave me the gift of more time to spend with her.”
During those two years, Kennedy accompanied Colter on doctor’s visits, chemotherapy appointments, and eventually hospice, the model for compassionate care for people facing death.
“We knew she was dying in April, 2007, which was around the time I had to decide whether I would revive my political career or not, because I knew she would not need me for much longer,” she said.
Colter died in June of that year, at the age of 45.
“It was really sad,” Kennedy said in tears. “How do you replace a friend you’ve had for 35 years? It was tough, but there was a reason I got that time off.”
Kennedy won back her seat in 2007.
Two years later, former Mayor Patrick J. McManus died one month after announcing his candidacy for mayor.
While Kennedy was recruited to run against incumbent Mayor Edward “Chip” Clancy Jr., the nomination paper deadline had passed.
But her experience running as a write-in candidate for School Committee paid off. She defeated the two-term mayor and four years later whipped former City Council President Timothy Phelan, in her bid for reelection.
Tomorrow Kennedy faces perhaps the biggest challenge of her political career. Her challenger, state Sen. Thomas M. McGee, captured 4,219 votes to Kennedy’s 1,632 in September’s preliminary election.
But Kennedy is not giving up.
“I have always been underestimated and outspent,” she said. “Bill Clinton can’t be the only Comeback Kid.”
Thomas Michael McGee
As the son of a legendary lawmaker, it seemed state Sen. Thomas M. McGee (D-Lynn) was destined to be a public servant.
“Lots of factors played into being who I am,” he said. “My father definitely inspired me when I saw him helping people. I was taught that if you can help someone, it’s doesn’t matter what you do in life.”
His father, Thomas W. McGee, served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963–1991 where he was Speaker for a decade. The former boxer, who dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Marines, ruled the House with an iron fist from 1975 until legislators revolted against what some called his tyrannical style that cost him the speaker’s seat in 1985.
But that’s not the McGee his son remembers.
“People knew if they needed something, he’d be down at Bill’s Lunch in McDonough Square every morning,” he said. “I was often with him and people knew he was available there, it was like his office. There was a pay phone and he was always trying to get things done, and that was before cellphones.”
McGee watched as residents looked to his dad to try to change their lives for the better. He could be counted on to not only deliver jobs and help constituents cut through red tape, but had a larger view of how the addition of a community college would improve the lives of North Shore residents.
At a ribbon cutting in September, McGee was emotional as he spoke at the opening of a new building at North Shore Community College building named for his dad.
“My father was the driving force to bring the school here,” he said. “He understood Lynn was the place where it could create opportunities for young people and those looking for a second chance.”
The $21 million, three-story facility features classrooms, offices, and student center for its 4,000 students. It was the elder McGee’s vision to build a community college in the city.
Despite nearly three decades in public service, his father did not try to convince his son to seek public office, McGee said.
“My parents wanted to make sure I went to college, but my father never pushed me in a particular direction,” he said. “He knew I had a good head on my shoulders and knew I would make the right decision for me.”
The elder McGee, who was defeated in 1990 in a bid for a 15th term, died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease in 2012 at 88.
McGee, the younger, got started in politics in 1976, at the age of 20, when he joined the Democratic State Committee.
McGee, who grew up in the turbulent 1960s, said he was inspired by President John F. Kennedy who urged young people to enter politics.
He would even meet his wife, Maria, at a political event. It was a Democratic Caucus in 1988 when her brother was running to be a delegate at the state convention.
“Maria was just a year out of college, her brother was on my softball team and her mother worked for my Dad,” he said. “I was chair of the Ward 6 Committee and we got to know each other at the convention at Boston Garden. She got drawn into politics early on too, and we dated for several years and she understood some of the things I would be part of.”
Later, McGee traveled and worked at a variety of hourly wage jobs: washed dishes in Aspen, Colo., unloaded trains in Boston, loaded pallets in a warehouse, worked in a print shop on a silk screening machine, and even sold Perrier, the sparkling water.
He graduated from University of Lowell in 1982 and later attended law school at night.
After law school, he worked in the administrative office of the trial court and later served as an assistant district attorney.
In 1994, when McGee was 38, then state Rep. Edward “Chip” Clancy Jr. sought to move up to the state Senate, it made the House seat available.
“When that state representative seat opened up, I knew right away that’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “I knew that was the direction I wanted to go.”
After 23 years on Beacon Hill, McGee said he’s been blessed to serve the district in the Legislature.
“It’s humbling to enter the State House daily and know you are the voice for the district,” he said.
