Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Kennedy Townsend in 2014
6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
In office
January 18, 1995  January 15, 2003
GovernorParris Glendening
Preceded byMelvin Steinberg
Succeeded byMichael Steele
Personal details
Born
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy

(1951-07-04) July 4, 1951
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
David Townsend
(m. 1973)
Children4, including Maeve
Parents
RelativesKennedy family
EducationRadcliffe College (BA)
University of New Mexico (JD)

Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (née Kennedy; born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She was the first woman to serve in that role. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran unsuccessfully for governor of Maryland in 2002.

In 2010, Townsend became the chair of the non-profit American Bridge, an organization whose focus is to raise funds for Democratic candidates and causes. Since 2021, she has served in the United States Department of Labor as an advisor on retirement. She is a member of the prominent political Kennedy family, and is the oldest grandchild of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.