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==Background==

==Background==

Townsend is a nephew and law partner of former state Senator Donald Gene Kelly in the firm Kelly, Townsend & Thomas.<ref name=martindale>{{cite web|url=http://www.martindale.com/Thomas-Taylor-Townsend/599096-lawyer.htm|title=Thomas Taylor Townsend: Law Profile|publisher=martindale.com|accessdate=September 25, 2009}}</ref>​

Townsend is a nephew and law partner of former state Senator Donald Gene Kelly in the firm Kelly, Townsend & Thomas.<ref name=martindale>{{cite web|url=http://www.martindale.com/Thomas-Taylor-Townsend/599096-lawyer.htm|title=Thomas Taylor Townsend: Law Profile|publisher=martindale.com|accessdate=November 25, 2019}}</ref>​

Townsend received a Bachelor of Science degree from [[Northwestern State University]] in Natchitoches and a Juris Doctor from historically black Southern University Law School in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. Admitted to the bar in 1990, Townsend specializes in consumer class actions, criminal defense, civil suits, and personal injury cases.<ref name=martindale/>​

Townsend received a Bachelor of Science degree from [[Northwestern State University]] in Natchitoches and a Juris Doctor from historically black Southern University Law School in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. Admitted to the bar in 1990, Townsend specializes in consumer class actions, criminal defense, civil suits, and personal injury cases.<ref name=martindale/>​

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==Political life==

==Political life==

In the 1999 nonpartisan blanket primary, Townsend narrowly upset veteran Democratic state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016), a Natchitoches businessman and member of the [[Huey Long|Long]] political dynasty who had served consecutively in the House since 1968. Townsend prevailed, 7,643 votes (51 percent) to Long's 7,447 votes (49 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns,  October 23, 1999.</ref> The defeat was stunning in that Long had been unopposed in 1995. Long was apparently the last member of his political family to have held public office in Louisiana until 2008, when Long's younger brother, Gerald Long of Natchitoches, won a state senate seat by defeating Taylor Townsend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana Senate, 1880-2020 (See Natchitoches Parish: Gerald Long|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=November 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 20, 2007.</ref> Considered an authority on secondary and higher education planning and funding, Jimmy Long was earlier named one of the 100 most significant people in the 20th century history in North Louisiana by ''The Shreveport Times'' [[newspaper]].​

In the 1999 nonpartisan blanket primary, Townsend narrowly upset veteran Democratic state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016), a Natchitoches businessman and member of the [[Huey Long|Long]] political dynasty who had served consecutively in the House since 1968. Townsend prevailed, 7,643 votes (51 percent) to Long's 7,447 votes (49 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns,  October 23, 1999.</ref> The defeat was stunning in that Long had been unopposed in 1995. Long was apparently the last member of his political family to have held public office in Louisiana until 2008, when Long's younger brother, Gerald Long of Natchitoches, won a state senate seat by defeating Taylor Townsend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana Senate, 1880-2020 (See Natchitoches Parish: Gerald Long|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=November 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 20, 2007.</ref> Considered an authority on secondary and higher education planning and funding, Jimmy Long was earlier named one of the 100 most significant people in the 20th century history in North Louisiana by ''The Shreveport Times'' [[newspaper]].​