Drawing parallels between the 1960s and today, Ernby said that in the 1960s people faced the possibility of losing their freedoms to socialism. “There’s nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now,” she said at the rally, according to the Daily Titan. 

Ernby was the daughter of two Navy veterans. Her brother is a Marine. 

She worked as an Orange County deputy district attorney for over a decade, focusing on environmental law and consumer protection cases. She also served on the Orange County Environmental Law Enforcement Task Force, the southern section of the California Consumer Protection Council, and the California Military Consumer Protection Task Force.

“It was an absolute privilege to fight the good fight alongside Kelly,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer posted to Twitter Monday. “Her passion and her shining light will be forever missed.”

In 2020, Ernby ran for the 74th Assembly District seat on a platform of bringing conservative values back to California. She declared she was against sanctuary cities and even before the pandemic, she was against vaccine mandates in schools.

“I don’t think that the government should be involved in mandating what vaccines people are taking,” Ernby said in a 2019 online town hall meeting with Mark Newgent Live. “I think that’s a decision between doctors and their patients … If the government is going to mandate vaccines, what else are they going to mandate?”

The Orange County GOP released a statement on her death, saying she died after a “brief illness.” The statement added, “Kelly was an incredible patriot and leader in our party. She spent her career fighting to give people a voice.”

Ernby was an outspoken activist supporting the campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling him a “dictator.” 

“I’m sick of watching Gavin Newsom, our dictator, shut down our schools, shut down our businesses, shut down our churches, and I’m really sick of the fact that criminals have more rights than law-abiding citizens,” Ernby told a cheering crowd at an August rally. 

According to The Mercury News, Ernby was a Huntington Beach resident and the presumed 2022 candidate for the assembly. She is survived by her husband, Axel.