Senator Ariana Kelly Contact information

Ariana Brannigan Kelly was born on December 7, 1976, in Bethesda, Maryland. She is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. She is currently serving as a member of the Maryland Senate from District 16. Before this, she was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 16 from 2011 to 2023, which is located in Montgomery County.

Kelly is the granddaughter of Maryland fire safety pioneer Francis Brannigan. She graduated from Walter Johnson High School and later attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where in 2002 she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. After graduating, Kelly worked as a national judicial education program associate for the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund. She also worked as a producer for PBS’ To The Contrary, a weekly news program, from 2002 to 2005, before becoming the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland. Kelly worked as the national campaign director for MomsRising.org from 2009 to 2011.

In the legislature, Kelly was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 12, 2011. She was a member of the Health and Government Operations Committee, including as its vice chair from 2022 to 2023, during her entire tenure and served as deputy majority whip from 2016 to 2023. Kelly also served as the president of the Women Legislators of Maryland caucus from 2017 to 2018, and as the House chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth, and Families from 2016 to 2022.

In December 2022, Governor-elect Wes Moore nominated state senator Susan C. Lee to serve as the Maryland Secretary of State. Kelly filed to fill the vacancy left by Lee in the Maryland Senate in January 2023. During her 2023 Senate appointment, it was alleged that she called one of the other candidates and harassed him for submitting his nomination for the appointment. Kelly denied the allegations. The Montgomery County Central Committee Chair indicated that the allegations were outside their purview for addressing. Kelly won the nomination by a vote of 24–0 with one abstention. She was sworn in on February 27, 2023, and served on the Judicial Proceedings Committee during her entire tenure.