Kenney Still on the Mayoral Fence

It looks like at-large City Councilman Jim Kenney is kicking off his council re-election campaign with a fundraiser on Feb. 5. Does that mean his mayoral ambitions have been formally shelved? At least this cycle?

Not quite, Kenney said. “It’s a parallel track. I’m not done with the aspiration yet. You can only have one campaign committee, and my council committee is the same one I’d use if I ran for mayor. I have to keep the council stuff on track, in case nothing breaks on the other side.”

Still, it sounds like a lot would have to break the right way for Kenney to get in–starting with some clarity on Council President Darrell Clarke‘s intentions. “If we get to a point where Darrell ultimately, finally, absolutely decides one way or the other, maybe people who are interested in this race will look around for someone other than who’s in the (mayoral) lineup right now,” Kenney said. There’d need to be a well-financed Draft Kenney movement, in other words, for the councilman to consider getting in.

“If not, I’ll just continue on and run for re-election,” he said. “This thing on the 5th does not preclude anything.”