Brigid Kelly

Brigid Kelly (also Brigid Kelly Culter; April 21, 1983 – March 26, 2024) was an American Democratic Party politician who served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2017 to 2022, representing the 31st District, which consisted of a portion of Cincinnati as well as Norwood, Amberley, Fairfax, Silverton, St. Bernard and a portion of Columbia Township in Hamilton County. She served as the Hamilton County Auditor from March 2023 until her death.

Life and early career Kelly was born on April 21, 1983. She was raised in Norwood, Ohio, and attended Saint Ursula Academy before graduating from Xavier University with a bachelor's degree and the University of Cincinnati with a master's degree. She had three brothers. Her brother Nicholas died before her. She was married to Steve Culter. A member of a union household, Kelly started working for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in 2006. She was an organizer for more than a decade and became a communications director for the union. Her grandfather was the mayor of Norwood in the 1950s and her father was a long-time elected official in Norwood.

Ohio House of Representatives In 2016, Representative Denise Driehaus was ineligible to run for a fifth term due to term limits, and instead waged a successful bid for Hamilton County Commissioner. Kelly had long been planning to succeed Driehaus, and indeed did announce her campaign for the Democratic nomination. A safely Democratic seat, the primary was crowded, with six people running. However, Kelly won with a plurality of nearly 35%.

Kelly won the general election against Republican Mary E. Yeager with 68% of the vote to take the seat.

Kelly served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2017 to 2022. While she was in the House, she led a bipartisan effort to pass a bill that would eliminate a sales tax on tampons and other feminine hygiene products in Ohio. She was a primary sponsor of a bill that passed 84–1 in the House in December 2018. The bill passed in the Ohio Senate in October 2019 and went into effect on April 1, 2020. She became the House minority whip, but she lost her role in early 2019 when she refused to support Republican Larry Householder's bid to become Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives after Democrats made a deal to support Householder. She battled esophageal cancer throughout her tenure as Hamilton County Auditor from March 2023 to March 2024. On March 21, 2024, she announced her resignation due to her declining health. The resignation would have gone into effect on March 27, but she died the day prior.

Legacy Following her death, friends and family established The Brigid Kelly Public Service Scholarship at Xavier University. The scholarship supports students who demonstrate promise as a future public leader based on their academic record and history of campus and community engagement. Giving to this scholarship helps to ensure that Brigid’s legacy lives on by developing a new generation of leaders who share her commitment to service and community.