Meet Kim

Kim Driscoll won an underdog race to become Salem’s first woman Mayor in 2006, topping the ticket in a three-way race against a sitting City Councillor-at-Large and the incumbent Mayor.

Kim took office at a time when Salem was in tough shape. There were record deficits, poor financial management, and a declining bond rating. Kim turned those deficits into record reserve funds and saved taxpayers’ money by enhancing city efficiencies, broadening the use of 21st Century technology, reforming pensions and public health insurance programs, bidding public contracts, and revitalizing Salem’s downtown.

Working collaboratively with state officials and local partners, Kim helped secure sizable public and private investments, including a new MBTA train station, a new state courts complex, and a new ferry and waterfront port at Salem Wharf. The city is now a national leader in the offshore wind sector, serving as the primary marshalling port for the forthcoming Commonwealth Wind project that will serve residents across Massachusetts. 

In Salem, the city adopted a climate change mitigation plan and took steps to lower its own carbon footprint – steps that also helped the city and residents save on their electric bills. 

A proud parent of children who attended Salem Public Schools, Kim has also chaired the Salem School Committee as Mayor, and helped push for collaborations and strategies to improve Salem’s schools and for added investments to support teachers and students. 

Understanding the importance of action toward substance abuse disorder, Kim spearheaded a specialized curriculum in the middle school grades to combat the scourge of opioids and created innovative intervention programs to help those suffering from addiction.

From one of the first fully inclusive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinances in Massachusetts and a 100 percent score on the Municipal Equality Index, to major investments in veterans’ benefits, to standing up for immigrants, to the first age-friendly action plan certified in Massachusetts and the long fought-for new senior center, Salem under Mayor Driscoll has been – first and foremost – about including and welcoming everyone.

Over the past two years, Kim has been a strong leader to help Salem, the region, and the Commonwealth through the pandemic. From her quick actions setting up food assistance and volunteer aid to vulnerable residents, to providing free masks and PPE to seniors and businesses – from setting up a regional quarantine site for our neighbors and leading on vaccination efforts to put together innovative school and neighborhood testing programs that have served as a model throughout Massachusetts – Kim has been present, focused, and determined to do what’s necessary to protect Salem resident’s lives and livelihoods, and get our kids back into the classroom safely.

Exemplified by her extensive and successful career in city government, Kim is focused on creating a forward-looking Commonwealth and communities that work for, empower, and include those who call them home, as well as those who aspire to do so.

Kim has been a statewide leader as the chair of the North Shore Coalition of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and previously served on the Massachusetts Workforce Development Board. She currently serves on the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council and the Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council. Mayor Driscoll previously served on the board of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, as former president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Mayors Association, and a member of the United States Conference of Mayors, serving on the Conference's Community Development & Housing Committee and Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment & Sports Committee.

A 55-year-old mother of three, Kim is married to a union bricklayer. The daughter of a Navy cook from Lynn and accountant’s assistant from Trinidad, Kim spent her childhood in a number of states, before going to Salem State University to study government and become a stand-out athlete on the women’s basketball team.

While in college, working in Salem’s Planning Department opened Kim’s eyes to the way that government can have a profound and positive impact on people’s daily lives. Kim then took a position as Beverly’s Community Development Director and went on to earn her law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law. After a few years in private practice, in 1998, Kim was tapped by the new City Manager in Chelsea to serve as the city’s Chief Legal Counsel and later as Deputy City Manager. 

Due to the fiscal mismanagement and corruption of elected officials during the 1990s, Chelsea was forced into bankruptcy and subsequently entered state receivership - the first community in Massachusetts to enter receivership since the Great Depression. Kim was an integral part of the team that worked to turn the city around. She brought with her the skills necessary to establish transparency and professionalism in city government, intent on empowering disenfranchised residents to participate in the work of City Hall and create the thriving community that Chelsea is today.

In 1999, Kim ran for and won a seat on the Salem City Council. In 2003, frustrated by the extent of petty political games that characterized Salem city government, Kim made the decision to step down from the City Council and run for Mayor. She campaigned in 2005 on a platform of professional, inclusive, and transparent government and has been enthusiastically re-elected as mayor every term since.