Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D., Ariz.) messy divorce—including a restraining order filed against him by his ex-wife and his own request to have her put behind bars—is likely to come back to haunt him as Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris eyes him as a potential running mate.
While reports indicate that Harris’s team has privately met with both Kelly and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in consideration for the role, Wall Street insiders are reportedly speculating that Harris will choose a governor instead of Kelly. Axios reported on Wednesday that Harris has been ramping up her Wall Street fundraising, noting that the financial industry is restricted from donating to campaigns once a sitting governor is on the ticket.
If Kelly is passed over for the role, his business connections to China and tumultuous divorce could be to blame.
While Kelly has described his divorce as "amicable," court records contradict that description.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported in 2020 that Kelly asked a Texas court to jail his ex-wife, Amy Kelly, for six months, after she moved to a new town a few miles outside of their children’s school district. Kelly, a former astronaut and businessman, argued that his ex-wife’s move was a violation of their custody agreement, and he requested that she be "confined in the county jail for 179 days or until [she] complies with the order." He also requested that she "be placed on community supervision for ten years on release from jail" and that she be ordered to pay his attorney’s fees along with "postjudgment interest." Mark Kelly moved to seal the divorce records in 2022.
Amy Kelly also received a temporary restraining order against Mark Kelly in the case. Although such orders are not uncommon in Texas divorce cases, the move indicates that the split was not as civil as the senator has publicly described.
In Kelly’s 2011 book Gabby—which he penned with his second wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords—he wrote that the "divorce was amicable, but the girls didn’t need or want another mother figure."
"[Gabby] was the stepmother, arriving in the girls’ lives after their mom [Amy] and I had divorced," he wrote.
Rick Walker, a family law attorney and University of North Texas professor, told the Free Beacon in 2020 contempt accusations are typically seen in combative divorce cases.
"If you come and threaten someone with contempt, that’s certainly not amicable," said Walker.
Amy Kelly filed for divorce in 2004, shortly after Mark Kelly met Giffords at a leadership development seminar in China. He and Giffords married three years later.
In the 12 years since Kelly asked a court to lock up his ex-wife, their relationship appears to have become less combative. Amy Kelly told the Free Beacon in 2020 that Kelly "is and always has been a great dad and is dedicated to his family as much as he is to his country." She declined to speak on the phone in 2020, and her statement was sent to the Free Beacon by Mark Kelly’s campaign.
Amy Kelly told the Daily Mail this week that she and her ex-husband "worked out a legal matter" and she would "support his decision to run" for vice president. She said Mark Kelly would benefit the ticket because his policies are more centrist, but she didn’t appear enthusiastic about Harris’s candidacy.
"Personally, I would prefer a ticket without Kamala on it. I’d pick Mark over her. I don’t see what use she was to Joe Biden and I’m not sure she would be very useful as President," Amy Kelly told the Mail.
"I'm not a woman of color, but I just think there should be other reasons to be excited about a potential presidential candidate than their gender and their race," she added.
Kelly has served in the U.S. Senate since 2020. His business dealings with China became a campaign issue during his first election.
He was an advisory board member at a tech company that worked to bring aerospace technology to China in 2018, the Free Beacon reported in 2020.
The company, Boom Technology, partnered with the Shanghai-based travel company Trip.com Group Limited, formerly known as Ctrip, to help "bring supersonic flight to China."
Ctrip was a participant in the Chinese government’s "Belt and Road Initiative," an international infrastructure project that aims to project Chinese military and political power overseas.
In addition to sitting on Boom Technology’s advisory board, Kelly also owned stock in the company worth between $115,000 and $300,000.