Trent Kelly | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2015 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's1st district | |
| Assumed office June 2, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Alan Nunnelee |
| District Attorney ofMississippi's 1st Judicial District | |
| In office January 1, 2012 – June 2, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | John Young |
| Succeeded by | John Weddle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Trent Kelly (1966-03-01)March 1, 1966 (age 59) Union, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Sheila Kelly |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1985–2025 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | |
| Wars | Gulf War Iraq War |
| Awards | |
John Trent Kelly (born March 1, 1966)[1] is an American lawyer, politician, andU.S. Armymajor general serving as theU.S. representative forMississippi's 1st congressional district since 2015. A member of theRepublican Party, he previously served as thedistrict attorney ofMississippi's 1st Judicial District from 2012 to 2015.[2]
John Trent Kelly was born on March 1, 1966, inUnion, Mississippi, to John and Barbara Kelly. He is a resident ofSaltillo, Mississippi, where he served as thedistrict attorney of Mississippi's 1st Circuit Judicial District, which includesLee,Pontotoc,Alcorn,Monroe,Itawamba,Prentiss, andTishomingo Counties.[3]
Kelly graduated from Union High School in 1984 and joined theMississippi Army National Guard in 1985. He earned an associate's degree fromEast Central Community College inDecatur before graduating from theUniversity of Mississippi with a bachelor's degree. Kelly is a member ofPhi Kappa Tau fraternity.[4]
Kelly graduated fromUniversity of Mississippi School of Law and received a master's degree in Strategic Studies from theUnited States Army War College in 2010.[5]
After law school, Kelly worked in private practice until 1999, when he became a city prosecutor inTupelo. He was elected district attorney in 2011, defeating a nine-term Democratic incumbent.[6]
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In 1990, Kelly mobilized forOperation Desert Storm as asecond lieutenantengineer officer. In 2005, Kelly deployed as amajor during theIraq War with the 155th Brigade as the Operations Officer of the 150th Engineer Battalion. From 2009 to 2010, he deployed as a lieutenant colonel to Iraq as the Battalion Commander of Task Force Knight of the155th Brigade Combat Team and commanded over 670 troops from Mississippi, Ohio, and Kentucky. Kelly has received twoBronze Star medals, the Combat Action Badge, the Bronze, Silver, and Gold de Fleury medals, and numerous other federal and state awards for his service. From October 2014 to November 2016, he served as thebrigade commander for the168th Engineer Brigade, leading 1,400 soldiers from the 223rd Engineer Battalion, the 890th Engineer Battalion, and multiple Engineer Specialty Companies from Mississippi.[7] Kelly was promoted tobrigadier general in January 2018[8] and tomajor general in November 2020.[9] His capstone assignment was as assistant adjutant general - Army, for theMississippi National Guard; he retired from the Guard in April 2025.[10][11]
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Third party | Party | Votes | Pct | Third party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 (special) | Trent Kelly | 69,516 | 70.0% | Walter Zinn | 29,831 | 30.0% | |||||||||||||
| 2016 | 206,455 | 68.7% | Jacob Owens | 83,947 | 27.9% | Chase Wilson | Libertarian | 6,181 | 2.1% | Cathy Toole | Reform | 3,840 | 1.3% | ||||||
| 2018 | 158,245 | 66.9% | Randy Wadkins | 76,601 | 32.4% | Tracella L.O. Hil | Reform | 1,675 | 0.7% | ||||||||||
| 2020 | 228,787 | 68.7% | Antonia Eliason | 104,008 | 31.3% | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 122,151 | 73.0% | Dianne Black | 45,238 | 27.0% | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 223,589 | 69.8% | 96,697 | 30.2% |
After the death of Republican CongressmanAlan Nunnelee in 2015, Kelly entered the race to succeed him. Nunnelee's widow, Tori Nunnelee, contributed to Kelly's campaign.[12]
In the first round, Kelly finished second in a 13-candidate field, behindDemocrat Walter Zinn.[13] As no candidate received a majority of votes, Kelly and Zinn advanced to a runoff on June 2.[13] Several of the other candidates in the race endorsed Kelly after they were eliminated.[14]
In the heavily Republican district, Kelly took 70% of the vote to Zinn's 30%.[15][16][17]
Kelly won the Republican primary in March 2016, defeating Paul Clever of Olive Branch both districtwide and in DeSoto County. Kelly had 18,152 votes in DeSoto County, or 80%, to Clever's 4,497 (20%).
Kelly then won reelection with 67.57% of the vote to Democratic nominee Jacob Owens's 27.97%, followed by Libertarian Chase Wilson's 2.92% and Reform Party candidate Cathy L. Toole's 1.45%.
Kelly was sworn in byHouse SpeakerJohn Boehner on June 9, 2015.[18] In his first term, he served on theHouse Committee on Agriculture and theHouse Committee on Small Business.
Kelly serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Agriculture Committee. He has previously served on the House Committee on Small Business and the House Committee on the Budget.
In December 2020, Kelly was one of 126 Republican members of theHouse of Representatives to sign anamicus brief in support ofTexas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at theUnited States Supreme Court contesting the results of the2020 presidential election, in whichJoe Biden defeated[19] incumbentDonald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lackedstanding underArticle III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[20][21][22]
In 2024, Kelly voted against the $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine;The Washington Post reported that some of the funding would have supported defense jobs in his constituency.[23]
On June 14, 2017, inAlexandria, Virginia,Republican member ofCongress andHouse Majority WhipSteve Scalise of Louisiana was shot while practicing for the annualCongressional Baseball Game for Charity, scheduled for the following day. Also shot were David Bailey and Crystal Griner, aCapitol Police officer assigned to protect Scalise; Zack Barth, a congressional aide; and Matt Mika, aTyson Foods lobbyist.
A ten-minuteshootout ensued between the shooter—James Hodgkinson ofBelleville, Illinois, a left-wing activist[24][25]—and officers from the Capitol andAlexandria Police. Media reports state Hodgkinson began firing from the fence adjacent to the third base dugout. At the time of the shooting, Kelly was playing third base and roughly ten yards from Hodgkinson. As Hodgkinson opened fire, Kelly is reported to be the first person to be shot at and the first to alert the rest of the team there was an active shooter by yelling "shooter, active shooter" as he evacuated himself from the field. Officers shot Hodgkinson, who died from his wounds later that day atGeorge Washington University Hospital.[26] Scalise and Mika were taken to nearby hospitals, where they underwent surgery.[27] Scalise is the first sitting member of Congress to have been shot since RepresentativeGabby Giffordswas shot in 2011.[28]
For the119th Congress:[29]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's 1st congressional district 2015–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 151st | Succeeded by |
