Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Kathleen Hartington Kennedy was born on July 4, 1951, in Greenwich, Connecticut, the eldest of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel's 11 children. She was named after her paternal aunt Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, who died in a plane crash three years before Kennedy was born. Kennedy is the eldest grandchild of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. She spent her childhood between the family's homes in McLean, Virginia and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. While growing up, it was not assumed that the girls in the politically oriented Kennedy family would run for office. Kennedy was 16 when her father was assassinated. The night he was shot at the Ambassador Hotel, Kennedy and her two oldest brothers, Joseph II and Robert Jr., were being flown to Los Angeles aboard one of the planes in the Secret Service's presidential fleet named "the Jet Star". Kennedy was educated at Our Lady of Victory Elementary School in Washington, D.C., and later graduated from The Putney School in Vermont. ==Early career==

After graduating from law school, Kennedy worked as an attorney at a private law firm, Clendenen & Lesser, in New Haven, Connecticut, while her husband, David Townsend, attended Yale Law School. In 1982, Kathleen was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, and worked as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge A. David Mazzone in Boston. She also worked on her uncle Ted Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign, stumped for local Democrats, In 1984, the family settled in the Baltimore area, in her husband's home state. In 1985, Kathleen was admitted to the Maryland bar. She went to work for the state's government, holding numerous posts including assistant Maryland Attorney General from 1985 to 1986. Townsend became the first Kennedy family member to lose a general election when she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's strongly Republican 2nd congressional district in 1986, using the name Townsend only. ==Lieutenant governor of Maryland==

1994 election In 1994, Parris Glendening was running for governor in a highly contested primary against then-Lt. Governor Melvin Steinberg when he selected her as his running mate. Experts did not believe she would be an asset, but her name recognition (she now used the name Kennedy Townsend) and her fund-raising skills helped him to win. Sauerbrey's allegations included ballot box stuffing, 100% voting in one precinct, and voting by numerous dead people, among rumors of a Kennedy "precedent" suggesting John F. Kennedy had stolen the 1960 presidential election via Chicago and therefore his niece Townsend must have stolen this election. In her role as chair of the Cabinet Council on Business, Economic Development, and Transportation, Townsend guided economic initiatives including support for the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, more opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses, growth in the biotechnology sector, and investments in Baltimore/Washington International Airport. With Governor Parris Glendening, she helped enact reduction or elimination of more than 30 taxes. ==2002 gubernatorial election==

In the Maryland gubernatorial election of 2002, Townsend faced Republican Bob Ehrlich and Libertarian Spear Lancaster in the general election. During the campaign, Townsend was criticized for her choice of running mate, Admiral Charles R. Larson, a novice politician who had switched parties only a few weeks before. Some also criticized the choice of a white male as unlikely to help minority turnout. Ehrlich's running mate was Michael Steele, an African-American lawyer who had been chairman of the Republican Party of Maryland. Though Maryland traditionally votes Democratic and had not elected a Republican governor in almost 40 years, Townsend lost the race, gaining 48% of the vote to Ehrlich's 51% and Lancaster's 1%. Ehrlich became only the seventh Republican governor in state history. In the end, most observers agreed she ran a weak campaign. They specifically cited a lack of planning, claiming that she hastily booked campaign stops in rural areas hostile to her. The Baltimore Sun said the defeat derailed her political career, at least in the short run. ==Later career==

, First Lady Dawn Moore, and Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, 2025 Townsend, along with siblings Robert, Jr. and Kerry, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the 2008 Democratic primaries. Townsend wrote the book ''Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way, published in 2007. She also contributes to The Recovering Politician'', a website started by Jonathan Miller. Townsend is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, and senior Nitze fellow at St. Mary's College of Maryland. In December 2010, Townsend was appointed chair of American Bridge, a new non-profit that would raise funds for Democratic candidates and causes, and that was intended to be a Democratic counterpart to right-leaning organizations such as American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. On August 30, 2021, Townsend joined the U.S. Department of Labor as the lead advisor to then U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh on the issue of retirement. Townsend endorsed incumbent Democrat Joe Biden's reelection campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election over a third-party/independent challenge by her brother Robert. Four months later, Townsend and four of her siblings endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election, and denounced their brother Robert Jr.'s decision to endorse former President Donald Trump, calling the move a "betrayal". ==Personal life==

In 1973, Kathleen married David Lee Townsend (born 1947), whom she had met when he was a graduate student and her tutor at Radcliffe. As of April 2020, David is a member of the faculty at St. John's College in Annapolis. They have four daughters: • Meaghan Anne Kennedy Townsend (born November 7, 1977) • Maeve Fahey Kennedy Townsend (November 1, 1979 – April 2, 2020) • Rose Katherine "Kat" Kennedy Townsend (born December 17, 1983) • Kerry Sophia Kennedy Townsend (born November 30, 1991) On June 27, 2011, Maeve gave birth to a son named Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. Gideon was the first great-grandchild for Bobby and Ethel, as well as the first of the fifth generation of Kennedys. Maeve and son Gideon went missing, and were presumed dead, in a canoeing accident that occurred on April 2, 2020. After 26 hours, the recovery mission was suspended. Maeve's body was found in the Chesapeake Bay on April 6 and Gideon's body was recovered two days later. His body was from where his mother's was found.{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/body-of-8-year-old-kennedy-family-member-found-after-canoe-accident/2268268/|title=Body of 8-Year-Old Kennedy Family Member Found After Canoe Accident |date=April 8, 2020 |newspaper=NBC 4 Washington |first=Andrea ==Boards==

Townsend has served on the boards of many organizations, and as a consultant to several corporations. She is the chair of the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland. Townsend is on the boards of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Points of Light Foundation, the Center for American Progress and Catholic Democrats. She was formerly on the independent Advisory Council of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a panel that was appointed to review the functioning of ACORN following the scandal touched off by hidden camera videos in September 2009, and the board of the National Catholic Reporter. Townsend is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. She is also on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service. Townsend is on the board of directors at the Lightbridge nuclear fuel technology company. ==Electoral history==