Susan Bysiewicz

Susan Bysiewicz
Susan Bysiewicz speaking at the APAC conference, 2014
72nd Secretary of the State of Connecticut
In office January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2011
Governor	John G. Rowland Jodi Rell
Preceded by	Miles S. Rapoport
Succeeded by	Denise Merrill
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 100th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by	David Lavine
Succeeded by	Theodore V. Raczka
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	David Donaldson
Residence	Middletown, Connecticut
Alma mater	Yale College, Duke University Law School
Profession	Lawyer, public official
Religion	Catholic

Susan Bysiewicz (born 1961) served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut from 1999 to 2011. She was briefly a candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2010, before dropping out to run for Connecticut Attorney General. She was disqualified from running for the office by the Connecticut Supreme Court and announced in 2011 that she was running for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Joe Lieberman. She lost the Democratic primary to Congressman Chris Murphy, who went on to win the election.

Bysiewicz was raised on a farm in Middletown, Connecticut. She is a Catholic of Polish and Greek descent. She graduated from Yale University and Duke University School of Law. While pursuing her law degree, she wrote Ella: A Biography of Governor Ella Grasso. Bysiewicz practiced law in New York City, and then in Hartford.

After redistricting, she decided to run in the newly redrawn Connecticut's 100th Assembly District, and defeated Republican Joseph Milardo by a margin of 61%-39%. She was a part of the largest Freshman class of the state legislature since 1974. In 1994, she won re-election to a second term with 67% of the vote. In 1996, she won re-election to a third term with 66% of the vote.

She was elected state representative for the 100th Assembly District of Connecticut for three successive terms starting in 1992, representing until 1998 about 22,000 constituents living in parts of the towns of Middletown (64% of her constituents) and Middlefield (10%), and throughout the town of Durham (26%).