Attorney Sandy Kennedy is a native Floridian, born at Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panama City area. She has lifelong ties to Florida, living here over forty years. As the daughter of a career military officer, Sandy traveled with her family in the U.S. Air Force, living in Italy near a NATO AFB base about 5 years, and in several states. Sandy is married to James Stoker, CFO of the Boeing Commercial Crew Starliner program at NASA Kennedy Space Center, and has an adorable 6 ft tall twenty-year-old son. She enjoys working out, reading, long walks in nature, saunas, and Ancestry.com.

In the mid-1800’s, Sandy’s family settled the Bay County area. Her 3rd great-grandmother started the first school in the area, and a small museum was opened in her honor. Her grandparents owned and lived in the iconic building in Cocoa with the lions out front on Forrest Avenue, and her father lived in West Melbourne.

Sandy graduated from the University of Miami School of Law, with a Juris Doctorate in 1994. She graduated from the Florida State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Sandy practiced construction law for almost 30 years, at law firms in South Florida, and at Nationwide Insurance Trial Div. in Orlando. She has been Board Certified in construction law since 2007.

Law school and a BA in political science is great preparation for being in Congress. In law school, Sandy studied constitutional law, environmental and land use law, federal taxation law, property law and construction law, all of which relate directly to the responsibilities of a productive member of Congress. Sandy’s political science studies include American defense policy and the United States and Russian military arsenals. Sandy’s skill set includes what a successful congressperson needs. Years before running for office, Sandy was analyzing issues and subjects, coming up with new ways to achieve good outcomes for the residents of Florida and the nation.

Over the course of her career, Sandy did not forget about the poor and the disadvantaged. She has performed community service in the way of pro-bono cases for people with no ability to pay. The pro bono cases included domestic violence, divorce, child support and custody modification, the first ever credit card data theft lawsuit (over $5 million at issue) before the advent of PC standards, a church financial dispute, and a town’s suit for $1 million for 30 years of accrued fines relating to a garage permit allegedly missing an inspection.