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.