[1] In 1932, he became the first Democrat to win a seat in the New York state Assembly from Monroe County, NY in more than forty years.

[1] His successful campaign in the primary was a defeat for the Democratic organization of Monroe County and was powered by strong support by labor unions, and in particular the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.,.

[2] The District consisted of almost all of the City of Rochester and the Towns of Greece, Irondequoit, Webster, Penfield, Brighton, Perinton, Pittsford, Rush and Henrietta.

[3] As a later political analysis put it, "Kelly, who is as Irish as his name, learned Italian as a young man, and he'd the first to tell you that his knowledge of the language didn't hurt him a bit in the early and mid-1930s when he was elected to the State Assembly, then the state Senate, and finally Congress.

He always had strong support from the so-called 'industrial wards' on the east side of Rochester, heavily populated by Italian clothing workers.