Senator Anthony Kern Contact information

Anthony Kern is an American politician and a Republican member of the Arizona Senate, representing District 27 since 2023. He previously represented District 20 in the State House of Representatives from January 5, 2015, to January 11, 2021. Kern lost his 2020 bid for reelection to the Arizona state House.

After the 2020 presidential election, in which Joseph Biden defeated Donald Trump both nationally and in Arizona, Kern denied the election results and sought to overturn the election to keep Trump in power. Kern was among the fake slate of pro-Trump electors who unsuccessfully tried to cast Arizona’s electoral votes for Trump. He won election to the state Senate in 2022, taking office in 2023.

Education: Kern earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northern Arizona University. He also graduated from Glendale Community College’s Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Career before politics: Kern worked for the El Mirage Police Department from March 2005 to November 2014, as a code enforcement officer. He is not a certified peace officer, despite falsely claiming to be a certified officer in a 2015 legislative debate, as well as on financial disclosure forms. During his tenure at the department, Kern was disciplined several times. In June 2014, the police department placed Kern on administrative leave for lying to a superior about a lost city-owned tablet computer. In August 2014, following a disciplinary hearing, Kern was fired from the police department. In 2014, the Maricopa County Attorney ’s Office added his name to its “Brady List” of officers with a record of misconduct or dishonesty. As a legislator, he tried to pass a law that would remove his name from the list, without informing the sponsor that it would apply to him. After it was disclosed that the bill was for Kern’s benefit, House Bill 2671 was amended to eliminate the provisions that would have helped him.

Tenure in state legislature: Kern and Paul Boyer defeated Amy Schwabenlender in the November 2014 general election. Kern received 23,799 votes. In 2016, Kern and Boyer ran unopposed in the Republican primary for state House in District 20. They defeated Democrat Chris Gilfillan on November 8. Kern was the second vote getter in the election with 39,118 votes. In 2016, Kern sponsored legislation to eliminate “free speech zones” on college and university campuses. In 2020, however, Kern introduced legislation to compel each Arizona public university to create an “Office of Public Policy Events” to track speakers invited to campus and create a report (possibly for leaders in the state legislature to review).