An email thread obtained by MoCo360 shows that Del. Ariana Kelly (D-Dist. 16) has been accused of verbally assaulting one of her competitors in the appointment process for the District 16 state Senate process.
The vote is Tuesday evening. Kelly denies the claim, and the head of Montgomery County’s Democratic Central Committee has said it’s not the panel’s place to adjudicate the dispute.
Kelly allegedly told Jason Woodward, one of her challengers, words to this effect: “Do you know who I am? I am Del. Ariana Kelly! I got more delegate votes than anybody!” and “You don’t know who you are f—ing with.”
According to the email thread obtained by MoCo360, Kelly also allegedly said to Woodward that it was her “f—ing Senate seat” and that nobody was going to stop her, among other profanities.
When asked if she said those things, Kelly said in a brief phone call Tuesday evening—while driving from Annapolis to the meeting: “Absolutely not.”
“It was a courtesy call. Same kind of call I have had with everyone running in a field with me over 8 elections,” Kelly wrote in a follow-up text.
Woodward could not immediately be reached for comment.
The exchange between Kelly and Woodward was relayed in an email thread from Scott Webber—the second candidate challenging Kelly for the Senate seat—to Saman Qadeer Ahmad, chair of the county’s Democratic Central Committee.
Ahmad told MoCo360 by phone that she and the committee were not the appropriate parties to discuss the matter. In the conversation with a reporter, she did not confirm knowledge of the conversation. However, in the email thread, she said she did not intend to air or confront the allegation in a committee meeting planned for Tuesday evening, where members were scheduled to vote on the Senate seat.
The alleged phone call and profanity come eight years after Kelly was charged with indecent exposure and trepassing, in regard to an incident at her ex-husband’s house in Bethesda, The Washington Post reported. The charges were later dropped after Kelly’s defense lawyer argued that they were inappropriately applied, according to media reports.
The committee is still scheduled to meet Tuesday evening to pick either Kelly, Woodward or Webber to fill a vacancy in the state Senate District 16 seat, vacated by Susan Lee when Gov. Wes Moore selected her to be secretary of state.
According to the email thread provided to MoCo360—and another separate email penned by Ahmad, provided by a source within the committee—the chair confirmed to her colleagues that she had received word about the call between Kelly and Woodward.
Ahmad wrote that Woodward has no intention of bringing up the call during Tuesday’s forum.
“I have had a chance to speak with Jason on this matter, and based upon our conversation he has made very clear in his own words that he ‘is not interested in making a spectacle of this issue’ before the meeting tonight. He also said that the conversation with Delegate Kelly was disclosed to you in confidence, and he had not agreed to taking this matter further,” Ahmad wrote.
In a separate email to committee members, Ahmad wrote that she had heard from Woodward about the issue and that he didn’t want to elevate it during the meeting.
“This is a telephone interchange that happened between two individuals [outside] of the MCDCC. While we do not discount this allegation we are a third party, we are not the appropriate body to arbitrate on these matters,” Ahmad wrote.
Two sources with knowledge of the phone call between Kelly and Woodward have confirmed to MoCo360 that it took place but did not want to comment further on its substance.
The county’s Democratic Central Committee is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. to interview Kelly, Webber and Woodward, and potentially vote on a candidate to send to Moore’s desk for consideration.
MoCo360 reporter Ginny Bixby contributed to this report.