Kelly Townsend

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Kelly Townsend
Kelly Townsend.jpg
Member of the Arizona Senate
from the 16th[1] district
Assumed office
January 11, 2021
Preceded byDave Farnsworth
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 16th[2] district
In office
January 14, 2013 – January 11, 2021
Preceded byredistricted
Succeeded byJacqueline Parker
Personal details
Born (1968-09-27) September 27, 1968 (age 53)
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Widowed
ResidenceMesa, Arizona
Alma materSouthern Oregon University (BS)
Arizona State University (BS, MA)
ProfessionAuthor, corporate management
former birth doula and doula trainer, maternal child health, infant family practice
Websitewww.kellytownsend.com

Kelly Townsend (born September 27, 1968)[3] is an American Republican politician. She has been a member of the Arizona Senate representing District 16 since 2021 and previously was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. From 2017 to 2018 Townsend was the Majority Whip of the House of Representatives.

Education[]

Townsend earned her BS degree in human communications and her master's degree in Infant-Family Practice from Arizona State University. She also received a BS degree in Psychology/Small Business from Southern Oregon University.[citation needed]

Political career[]

Teachers' protest[]

In 2018, she stirred some controversy during a highly publicized teachers' protest for more education funding by responding to a constituent that the money in the budget that was set for other items to include a suicide hotline, training for police officers, money for Alzheimer's research, etc. would no longer be available. She also offered to help any teacher, parent, or student harmed by the illegal strike to find legal representation in a class action lawsuit and suggested that it was up to the lawyers to determine who the defendants would be.[4] Representative Townsend was an ardent opponent of the political and ideological nature of the movement, yet maintained that she did support the teachers throughout the movement, despite the heckling online and at the Capitol, where her car was allegedly keyed while the RedForEd group mingled among the Legislative parking lot en masse.[5]

Vaccination[]

In 2019, she declared that mandatory vaccination was "Communist".[6]

2020 presidential election[]

Further information: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

Following the 2020 United States presidential election, Townsend supported the "Stop the Steal" movement which falsely claimed that Donald Trump won the election nationally and in Arizona.[7] Months later, she supported legislation that would require voters in Arizona who vote by mail to include identification paperwork along with their ballots.[8]

Bills[]

In 2021 Townsend sponsored Senate Bill 1503, which would, if passed, prohibit returning early ballots by mail and instead require them to be hand delivered.[9]

Elections[]

In 2010, Townsend initially ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in a six-way Republican primary in District 22, placing fourth with 5,446 votes;[10] other frontrunners included Eddie Farnsworth and Steve Urie who went on to win the district's seats in the November 2, 2010 general election.

In 2012, she was redistricted to District 16, and was one of four candidates for the Republican House of Representatives primary, placing first with 9,298 votes.[11] She won the second seat in the five-way general election with 40,720 votes against Democratic nominee , Arizona Green Party candidate Bill Maher, and Democratic write-in candidate Cara Prior.[12]

In 2014, she won the primary election with 39 percent of the vote, nearly 11 points ahead of her seatmate, Douglas Coleman, who came in with 28 percent of the primary vote. In the general election, she won 39 percent, placing her in first place, and earning her a second term in the House of Representatives.[13][14]

In 2016, she came in first place in the primary with 35 percent of the vote, and in the general election, she came in first place with 33 percent of the vote.[15][16]

References[]

  1. ^ "Senate Member". www.azleg.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  2. ^ "Kelly Townsend". Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona State Senate. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  3. ^ "Kelly Townsend's Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  4. ^ "Arizona lawmaker suggests lawsuit over teacher walkout, lashes out at constituent". azcentral. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  5. ^ "Arizona lawmaker suggests lawsuit over teacher walkout, lashes out at constituent". azcentral. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  6. ^ Arizona Lawmaker Kelly Townsend Compares Vaccines to Communism, by Elizabeth Whitman, in the Phoenix New Times; published February 28, 2019; retrieved March 1, 2019
  7. ^ Waltz, Adam (January 7, 2021). "Seven Arizonan Republican legislators face calls to ban them from the House and Senate". ABC 15 Arizona. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  8. ^ Cooper, Jonathan J. "Arizona Senate votes to require ID with mailed ballot". The Arizona Republic (in American English). Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  9. ^ "Bill Status Inquiry". apps.azleg.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  10. ^ "State of Arizona Official Canvass 2010 Primary Election August 24, 2010" (PDF). Phoenix, Arizona: Secretary of State of Arizona. p. 13. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  11. ^ "State of Arizona Official Canvass 2012 Primary Election August 28, 2012" (PDF). Phoenix, Arizona: Secretary of State of Arizona. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  12. ^ "State of Arizona Official Canvass 2012 General Election November 6, 2012" (PDF). Phoenix, Arizona: Secretary of State of Arizona. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  13. ^ "Maricopa County Final Report" (PDF).
  14. ^ "General Election Final Report" (PDF).
  15. ^ "Primary election results" (PDF).
  16. ^ "General Election Results" (PDF).

External links[]

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