Biography

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.