James Francis "Jim" Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American Democratic politician who is the current mayor of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a former member of the City Council. He was the Democratic nominee for mayor of Philadelphia in the 2015 election, having won the crowded primary election by a landslide on May 19, 2015.[1] On November 3, 2015 he was elected mayor of Philadelphia, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey. Kenney, who was first elected to the Philadelphia City Council in 1991, held his At-Large Council seat for 23 years from January 1992 until January 29, 2015, when he resigned from the City Council to launch his candidacy for mayor of Philadelphia.