SOMERVILLE – For America and for the world, the name “John F. Kennedy” conjures Camelot, and for 2024 candidate John F. Kennedy Camelot is Somerville, New Jersey.

Having raised four children here with his wife, Kennedy [technically, John ‘FX” Kennedy, after St. Francis Xavier] wants to give back to the town he loves. His lawn signs prompt double takes among those surprised to see the name of the 35th President seeking local office, but for all the evocation of another political time, this local JFK insists that he is “not a politician.”

“Somerville has been very good to my family and me,” said the Republican ally of Mayor Brian Gallagher, a trial attorney and retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who grew up in Westfield and graduated from Seton Hall University and Georgetown Law School.

The county seat of Somerset, Somerville made use of transit hub dollars over the past decade in particular to spark a reanimation of the commercial downtown here and grow its residential population around the train station.

“The issue on everyone’s mind is development,” Kennedy told InsiderNJ over coffee at Tim Horton’s. “It’s all about the master plan and the redevelopment zone.”

Residents worry about the future and the impact of larger numbers of people.

“Development has been great for Somerville but to the extent there’s more, let’s involve the community,” Kennedy said. “As a community, where’s development going to be going forward? I don’t have the answers but as a longtime resident [over 25 years] I know people can be more pro-active and the borough can organize and oversee more community meetings.”

Kennedy said he would like to work with the sitting mayor, Gallagher, whom voters reelected to office last year over Democrat Dennis Sullivan. A longtime local rivalry, Gallagher defeated Sullivan by three votes for the mayoralty in 2003, then eight years later, Gallagher defeated Sullivan by a 1,389-926 margin in the mayor’s race. Sullivan became mayor in a special 2018 election after Gallagher became a Somerset County commissioner, losing his countywide seat in the 2020 election before making a local comeback in his beloved hometown.

“Brian just loves Somerville and he’s not political in the sense of ‘us versus them,'” said Kennedy. “Like him, I would love to work with Democrats for Somerville. It’s a great place. Let’s use our intellect to make it a better place.”

A personal injury attorney, Kennedy describes his professional expertise as wrestling with issues, weighing both sides, and determining facts to inform opinions and reach decisions.

He is running for the seat currently occupied by his neighbor, retiring Councilman Thompson Mitchell, who has served on the council since 2004. Three people are running for two seats: Democratic incumbent Randal Pitts, Democrat Andrew Conte, and Republican Kennedy.

In a nationally intensified atmosphere enhanced locally here by the mystique of the Kennedy name, the candidate said, “It’s really a local race. Let me earn your vote. It’s a great town, and out on the trail knocking on doors, I haven’t run into anyone who’s not rooting for Somerville.”