Kenny Bowen

Who was Kenny Bowen?

Kenneth Francis "Kenny" Bowen, Sr. was a three-term Democratic mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, the fourth largest city in the state, according to the 2000 census. His tenure, which some assessed as distinguished and others as a failure, extended from 1972–1980 and again from 1992-1996.

Bowen was Lafayette's first and last mayor under the city's mayor-council form of government, which was used for the 24 years between 1972 and 1996. He was elected mayor with 62 percent of the vote in the 1972 Democratic primary, in which he defeated three opponents, and he was elected again in 1976 and 1992. When Bowen left office in 1996, the City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish combined their governments, much as Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish had done years earlier. The mayor then became the "president" of the combined government.