Kelly Townsend
Kelly Townsend is an American author, childbirth educator, birth doula, and former Republican politician. She was a member of the Arizona Senate representing District 16 from 2021 to 2023, and previously was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021, acting as Majority Whip from 2017 to 2018.
Early life and education
Townsend grew up in Oregon and served in the United States Navy as an aircraft mechanic from 1988 to 1992, stationed at Point Mugu, California. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and small business from Arizona State University.Career
Townsend was trained as a birth doula in 1992 and a childbirth educator in 1993. She is the author of Christ Centered Childbirth, a guide to help young parents draw upon their faith to help bring their child into the world. The book has been published in the United States, in Croatia under the title Duhovni pristup rađanju and in Slovenia under the title, Skozi nosečnost z Jezusom.Political career and electoral history
According to the official Congressional Record and other news reporting, in late 2009, Townsend co-founded the Greater Phoenix Tea Party with a man named Les White. She first ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in a six-way Republican primary in District 22, placing fourth with 5,446 votes. The next year she campaigned for legislation requiring proof of citizenship as a prerequisite for ballot access. The legislation was passed by the Arizona State Legislature but vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer. In 2012 she was one of four candidates in District 16 for the Republican House of Representatives primary, placing first with 9,298 votes. She won the second seat with 40,720 votes in the five-way general election against Democratic nominee Matthew Cerra, Arizona Green Party candidate Bill Maher, and Democratic write-in candidate Cara Prior.Townsend has been a longstanding member of the Oath Keepers. In 2014, she joined a caravan of fellow lawmakers to Bundy Ranch and held a press conference condemning Federal overreach while attending the standoff between the FBI and Cliven Bundy in a fight over land rights, However, while she supported the group at the Bundy Ranch protest, Townsend condemned the Bundy sons' occupation of the Oregon building by protesters that resulted in the death of LaVoy Finicum, which Townsend described as suicide by cop "just as he wanted," claiming that "discredited our cause," then linked to a video posted online by a relative of Finicum who said she was present at the scene when he was shot by FBI agents.
In June 2020, Townsend posted a QAnon video with a flaming "Q" to her social media and followed high-profile QAnon accounts.
Election activism
In 2010, Townsend attended a presentation at which Russian-born attorney Orly Taitz spoke about "rigged" voting machines and voter fraud, as well as her doubts about Obama's eligibility for the presidency, and Townsend discussed the Asch conformity experiments in the context of Obama birther theories.In February 2019, Townsend introduced legislation that would have made it a criminal offense for individuals to be paid to register voters unless employed by a recognized political party. Following criticism, Townsend announced plans to amend the bill, and it did not advance in its original form. Critics raised concerns that the measure could suppress voter turnout, while supporters, including Townsend, said it was aimed at preventing fraud. The bill passed out of committee but faced significant opposition. A revised version was proposed amid widespread criticism—grassroots groups and legislators flagged concerns over its impact on democratic participation calling it an "anti-democracy" bill. Ultimately, HB 2616 failed to pass the House Floor, falling short in a 32–28 vote.
In April 2019, a video of Townsend's visit to the Mexico-United States border was posted by right-wing group, AZ Patriot. In the video, Townsend said her main concern was that migrants arriving were registering to vote in federal elections.
The day after Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani presented allegations of election fraud, Townsend requested the Attorney General's office election integrity unit investigate all allegations presented by Giuliani.
In February 2020, Townsend sponsored a bill which she said would combat voter fraud. Opponents claimed that the bill would, among other things, restrict anyone from voting with the assistance of a translator unless the person had a disability. During a hearing before the House Elections Committee, Townsend removed the leader of an activist group from the hearing and shut down public commentary. The same month, Townsend proposed legislation for a voter fraud hotline predicting possible foreign interference or meddling in the then upcoming 2020 election. Her bill also expanded law enforcement powers allowing law enforcement or agents of the Attorney General's office election integrity unit to enter a polling place during the vote count to investigate voter fraud.
Following the 2020 election, Townsend was a vocal supporter of election fraud theories, speaking at "Stop the Steal" movement rallies, advocating the independent state legislature theory and petitioning the United States Congress to accept 11 "alternate" presidential electors pledged to vote for Donald Trump or to nullify Arizona's electoral votes pending an audit.
Townsend led her supporters in criticism of House Speaker Rusty Bowers for his refusal to allow her and her colleagues to call a formal legislative session to recall the State's electors. Townsend wanted a hearing to exercise her subpoena power as House Elections Chair to access voting machines.
On November 4, 2020, after a video was published of a woman claiming her vote was not counted due to the voting center requiring the use of Sharpies, Townsend took to her social media asking others with Sharpie experiences to come forward. After the Trump team's Sharpie lawsuit was dismissed as meritless, Townsend introduced legislation to restrict the use of Sharpie brand markers to mark ballots.
In December 2020, Townsend reportedly expressed concern to Giuliani that unless they had a pending legal case, their attempts to promote the alternate elector scheme might appear treasonous. Townsend proposed legislation to establish criminal penalties for election workers who misplace ballots, and contractors that fail to meet the terms of the contract. She also made public demands for law enforcement investigations of election workers, including for simple mistakes. She supported legislation that would require voters in Arizona who vote by mail to include identification paperwork along with their ballots. Maricopa County Republican Party chair, Rae Chornenky, resigned December 10, after coming under fire from Townsend for failing to attend the county's logic & accuracy test session of election equipment, and alleging her inaction “contributed to the collapse of Arizona voter confidence.”
The day before the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Townsend sponsored a bill to recall Arizona's electors that had been allocated to Biden and replace them with Trump electors.
After the Capitol was breached, Townsend publicly alleged the rioters learned their behavior from the left, who were the real culprits. Adding, to her now deleted tweet " year of violence from the Left. Heck, maybe it is the Left in disguise..." On January 7, 2021, in a since deleted tweet, Townsend blamed Arizona Governor Doug Ducey for the attack on the U.S. Capitol alleging he refused to bring the legislature into session along with House Speaker Rusty Bowers to conduct a full forensic audit.
Two months following her defeat of the election reform packages, Townsend leveraged her power with her budget vote to stall finalizing a budget as part of an effort to pressure GOP colleagues into creating a special legislative panel to review the results of the audit being conducted by the Senate of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County that she had championed. The following month, Townsend threatened the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in a video interview with Jordan Conradson from the Gateway Pundit, that it was their "come to Jesus moment," and that if they did not come forward to work with her and her associates on election integrity issues, they could be indicted or recalled.
In February 2022, Townsend proposed legislation requiring monthly reviews of the electoral roll and the prompt removal of felons from them, as well as prohibition of same-day voter registrations. Also in February 2022, Townsend said as part of a failed attempt to ban voting machines, that a return to the voting practices of "our parents" would improve the system. In March 2022 she issued a subpoena to Maricopa County to produce election data previously subpoenaed by the Arizona Attorney General.
In March 2022, Townsend issued additional subpoenas to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and publicly accused them of obstruction due to their non-compliance. In May 2022, after a Senate presentation by True the Vote, Townsend called on supporters to monitor ballot drop boxes used for early voting in the 2022 elections for indications of electoral fraud. In June 2022, Townsend received an FBI subpoena for emails and text messages relating to the Arizona Senate's examination of electoral fraud issues.
In July 2022, Townsend told the Washington Post in an interview that she had one or two phone calls with Giuliani in December 2020 but no longer has the phone on which those calls were made. She said she has described the nature of the calls to the FBI.
On August 4, 2022, Townsend led a group that protested the election at the Pinal County Supervisors meeting criticizing Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer for his stance and threatening to go to court to stop the County from certifying the results of the 2022 primary election. It was found that multiple polling locations did not have enough ballots ready for voters, and that many left the polling station without voting. At the meeting, Townsend told the Board of Supervisors they needed to halt certification and re-run the 2022 primary election citing continued claims of election malfeasance and chain of custody issues. Alternatively, the board opted to fire and replace the Pinal County elections director with Geraldine Roll, who resigned in June 2023 alleging she was not protected from political attacks led by Townsend and her associates.
Townsend filed a lawsuit for an injunction to halt the Pinal County ballot count which was denied on August 12, 2022. In November 2022, Townsend issued a subpoena for midterm election administration records in Maricopa County which the County rejected.