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Quick Facts
Personal Details

Brian Kelsey (b. December 22, 1977) is a Republican member of the Tennessee State Senate, representing District 31. He was first elected to the chamber during a special election in 2009.

He was a 2016 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 8th Congressional District of Tennessee. Kelsey was defeated by David Kustoff in the Republican primary on August 4, 2016.

Kelsey previously served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2004 to 2009.

Kelsey earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina. He went on to receive his J.D. from Georgetown University. He is an attorney for the Kelsey Firm, PLLC. His professional experiences include working in the Office of the Counsel to President George W. Bush and the United States Senatorial Office of Bill Frist.

Education

  • BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • JD, Georgetown University

Professional Experience

  • BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • JD, Georgetown University
  • Owner/Attorney, Kelsey Firm, present
  • Attorney, Martin, Tate, Morrow and Marston
  • Former Employee, Office of the Counsel to the President George W. Bush
  • Former Employee, United States Congressional Office of Ed Bryant
  • Former Employee, United States Senate Committee Office of Fred Thompson
  • Former Employee, United States Senatorial Office of Bill Frist

Political Experience

  • BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • JD, Georgetown University
  • Owner/Attorney, Kelsey Firm, present
  • Attorney, Martin, Tate, Morrow and Marston
  • Former Employee, Office of the Counsel to the President George W. Bush
  • Former Employee, United States Congressional Office of Ed Bryant
  • Former Employee, United States Senate Committee Office of Fred Thompson
  • Former Employee, United States Senatorial Office of Bill Frist
  • Senator, Tennessee State Senate, District 31, 2009-present
  • Former Undergraduate Adjunct Professor, University of Memphis
  • Candidate, Tennessee State Senate, District 31, 2018
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, Tennessee, District 8, 2016
  • Representative, Tennessee State House of Representatives, 2004-2009

Former Committees/Caucuses

Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, 2013-present

Member, Senate Education Committee, 2011-present

Former Member, Education Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Education, Health and General Welfare Joint Subcommittee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Finance, Ways and Means Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Government Operations Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Joint Committee on Fiscal Review, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Joint Government Operations Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Member, Judiciary and Government Joint Subcommittee, Tennessee State Senate

Former Chair, Judiciary Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Floor Leader, Republican Caucus

Former Member, Rules Committee, Tennessee State Senate

Current Legislative Committees

First Vice Chair, Education Committee

Member, Finance, Ways and Means Committee

Second Vice Chair, Select Committee on Rules

Member, State and Local Government Committee

Religious, Civic, and other Memberships

  • BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • JD, Georgetown University
  • Owner/Attorney, Kelsey Firm, present
  • Attorney, Martin, Tate, Morrow and Marston
  • Former Employee, Office of the Counsel to the President George W. Bush
  • Former Employee, United States Congressional Office of Ed Bryant
  • Former Employee, United States Senate Committee Office of Fred Thompson
  • Former Employee, United States Senatorial Office of Bill Frist
  • Senator, Tennessee State Senate, District 31, 2009-present
  • Former Undergraduate Adjunct Professor, University of Memphis
  • Candidate, Tennessee State Senate, District 31, 2018
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, Tennessee, District 8, 2016
  • Representative, Tennessee State House of Representatives, 2004-2009
  • Member, Christian Legal Society
  • Member, Federalist Society
  • Member, Fellowship Bible Church
  • Member, Fellowship Memphis Church
  • Member, Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing & Recidivism
  • Volunteer Children's Reader, Lester Community Center
  • Member, Memphis Bar Association
  • Member, Memphis Lawyers Chapter Board
  • Former Mentor, NEXUS Leaders
  • Member, Republican National Lawyers Association
  • Usher, Second Presbyterian Church
  • Former Member, Shelby County Republican Party Steering Committee
  • Former Member, Shelby County Young Republicans Executive Board
  • Member, Tennessee Bar Association
  • Member, Tennessee Holocaust Commission

Other Info

  • Yellow lab named Bella

Policy Positions

Tennessee State Legislative Election 2004 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- X

2. Abortions should always be legal.
- No Answer

3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer

4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

6. Prohibit public funding of abortions and of organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- X

7. Other or expanded principles
- X

Budget, Spending, and Tax

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels (#1-6) you will support for the following general categories. Select one level per category.

1. Education (higher)
- No Answer

2. Education (K-12)
- No Answer

3. Environment
- No Answer

4. Health care
- No Answer

5. Law enforcement
- No Answer

6. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- No Answer

7. Welfare
- No Answer

8. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels (#1-6) you will support. Select one level per tax.

1. Alcohol taxes
- No Answer

2. Capital gains taxes
- No Answer

3. Cigarette taxes
- No Answer

4. Corporate taxes
- No Answer

5. Gasoline taxes
- No Answer

6. Inheritance taxes
- No Answer

7. Property taxes
- No Answer

8. Sales taxes
- No Answer

9. Vehicle taxes
- No Answer

10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

11. Should Internet sales be taxed?
- No Answer

12. Should Tennessee implement a flat tax on income?
- No Answer

13. Should Tennessee implement a graduated income tax?
- No Answer

14. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.

1. Do you support the current limit of two consecutive four-year terms for Tennessee governors?
- Yes

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for Tennessee state senators and representatives?
- No

Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative and gubernatorial candidates?

1. Individual
- No

2. PAC
- No

3. Corporate
- No

4. Political Parties
- No

5. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

6. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- No

7. Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying, and ensuring accuracy of votes?
- Undecided

8. Do you support prohibiting the reporting of media exit polling results until all polling locations in Tennessee are closed?
- Yes

9. Should Tennessee provide property tax relief for seniors?
- Yes

10. Should Tennessee recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- No

11. Should Tennessee restrict marriage to a union only between a man and a woman?
- Yes

Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative and gubernatorial candidates?

1. Other or expanded principles
- Tennessee should provide property tax relief for all citizens by returning the state surplus in the form of property tax relief.

Crime

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- X

2. Support the death penalty in Tennessee.
- X

3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X

4. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- No Answer

5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X

6. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- X

7. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- No Answer

8. Increase funding for state and local emergency agencies to prevent and to respond to terrorist attacks.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Drug Issues: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding drugs.

1. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer

2. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- No Answer

3. Create a separate crime of "severe child abuse" for parents who make methamphetamine with their children present.
- No Answer

4. Limit purchases of over-the-counter ingredients that are used to make methamphetamine.
- No Answer

5. Quarantine all methamphetamine labs until they are cleaned up by state-approved contractors.
- No Answer

6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Education

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- X

2. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- X

3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- X

4. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- No Answer

5. Increase state funds for hiring additional teachers.
- X

6. Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
- X

7. Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
- X

8. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- X

9. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X

10. Increase funding for Head Start programs.
- X

11. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- No Answer

12. Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
- No Answer

13. Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
- X

14. Other or expanded principles
- X

Employment and Affirmative Action

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today?s job market.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X

3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X

4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- No Answer

5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- No Answer

6. Include sexual orientation in Tennessee?s anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer

7. Increase the state minimum wage.
- No Answer

8. Other or expanded principles
- X

Affirmative Action: Should race, ethnicity, or gender be taken into account in state agencies? decisions on:

1. Public employment
- No

2. State college and university admissions
- No

3. State contracting
- No

4. Other or expanded principles
- I dream of a day when a child will be judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

Environment and Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- No Answer

2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
- No Answer

3. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- No Answer

4. Support funding for open space preservation.
- No Answer

5. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- No Answer

6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Gun

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

1. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

2. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

3. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

4. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer

5. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- No Answer

6. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- No Answer

7. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Health

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- No Answer

2. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- X

3. Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X

4. Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
- No Answer

5. Support patients' right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied.
- No Answer

6. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- X

7. Legalize physician assisted suicide in Tennessee.
- No Answer

8. Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Welfare and Poverty

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare and poverty.

1. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- X

2. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X

3. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X

4. Support current limits on benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- X

5. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- X

6. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
- No Answer

7. Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
- X

8. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Legislative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- visit my website: www.VoteKelsey.com

State Bills