Connecticut State Senate

Last updated

Connecticut State Senate
Connecticut General Assembly
Seal of the Senate of Connecticut.svg
Type
Type
Term limits
None
History
New session started
January 4, 2023
Leadership
Susan Bysiewicz (D)
since January 9, 2019
Martin Looney (D)
since January 7, 2015
Majority Leader
Bob Duff (D)
since January 7, 2015
Minority Leader
Stephen Harding (R)
since February 16, 2024
Structure
Seats36
Connecticut Senate Composition 2023.svg
Political groups
Majority
  •    Democratic (24)

Minority

Length of term
2 years
AuthorityArticle III, Section 1, Connecticut Constitution
Salary$40,000/year
Elections
Last election
 November 8, 2022
(36 seats)
Next election
 November 5, 2024
(36 seats)
RedistrictingLegislative Control
Meeting place
State Senate Chamber
Connecticut State Capitol
Hartford, Connecticut
Website
Official Senate Page

The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Senators are elected to two-year terms without term limits. The Connecticut State Senate is one of 14 state legislative upper houses whose members serve two-year terms; four-year terms are more common.

Contents

As in other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the federal U.S. Senate, the Senate is reserved with special functions such as confirming or rejecting gubernatorial appointments to the state's executive departments, the state cabinet, commissions and boards. Unlike a majority of U.S. state legislatures, both the Connecticut House of Representatives and the State Senate vote on the composition to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

The Senate meets within the State Capitol in Hartford.

History

The Senate has its basis in the earliest incarnation of the General Assembly, the "General Corte" established in 1636 whose membership was divided between at least six generally elected magistrates (the predecessor of the Senate) and three-member "committees" representing each of the towns of the Connecticut Colony (the predecessors of the House of Representatives). The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, adopted in 1639, renamed the committees to "deputies", the Corte to the Court, and established that the magistrates were generally elected for yearlong terms; the magistrate who received the highest number of votes would serve as governor for the year, so long as he had previously served as a magistrate and had not been governor the previous year. Other magistrates were elected deputy governor, secretary, and treasurer. Although the magistrates and deputies sat together, they voted separately and in 1645 it was decreed that a measure had to have the approval of both groups in order to pass. The Charter of 1662 replaced the six magistrates with twelve assistants, not including the governor and deputy governor, and renamed the legislature to the General Assembly. In 1698, the General Assembly split into a bicameral body, divided between the Council and the House of Representatives. The Council contained the twelve assistants, deputy governor, and governor, who led the body, while the House was led by a Speaker elected from among its members. Because the governor led it and other notables sat in it, the Council took precedence to the House and when the two chambers were at odds, the House deferred to the council.[ citation needed ] The 1818 constitution renamed the council to the Senate, [1] removed the governor and deputy governor from its membership, and removed all remaining judicial and executive authority from it, but it remained largely the same in that it still consisted of twelve generally elected members. It was in 1828 that senatorial districts were established and the number of senators revised to between eight and twenty-four; the number was altered to between twenty-four and thirty-six in 1901, with the General Assembly setting it at thirty-six immediately. Senatorial terms were raised to two years in 1875. [2]

In 1814–15, the Hartford Convention met in the Connecticut Senate chamber of what is now the Old State House.

Leadership of the Senate

The Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut serves as the President of the Senate, but only casts a vote if required to break a tie. In the absence of the lieutenant governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut Senate presides. The President pro tempore is elected by the majority party caucus followed by confirmation of the entire Senate through a Senate Resolution. The President pro tempore is the chief leadership position in the Senate. The Senate majority and minority leaders are elected by their respective party caucuses.

The President of the Senate is Susan Bysiewicz of the Democratic Party. The President pro tempore is Democrat Martin Looney (D-New Haven). The Majority Leader is Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and the Minority Leader is Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield).

Current leadership

PositionSenatorDistrict
Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz —
President Pro Tempore Martin Looney 11
Majority Leader Bob Duff 25
Minority Leader Stephen Harding 30

Make-up of the Senate

As of January 2023, the makeup of the Connecticut Senate consisted of 24 seats for Democrats and 12 seats for Republicans. In the 2022 elections, Democrats picked up District 20, giving them 24 seats to the Republicans' 12 seats.

↓
2412
DemocraticRepublican
AffiliationPartyTotal
Democratic Republican Vacant
End of Previous Legislature: 2021–20232313360
Start of Current Legislature: 2023–20252412360
Latest Voting Share66.7%33.3%100%

Members of the Senate

Current members of the Connecticut Senate, as of January 4, 2023.

DistrictName [3] PartyHometownFirst electedTowns representedOccupationLeadership Role
1 John Fonfara Dem Hartford 1996 Hartford (part), Wethersfield (part)Marketing Consultant
2 Douglas McCrory Dem Bloomfield 2017 ^ Bloomfield (part), Hartford (part), Windsor (part)Educator
3 Saud Anwar Dem South Windsor 2019 ^ East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington (part), South Windsor Physician
4 MD Rahman Dem Manchester 2022 Andover, Bolton, Glastonbury, Manchester Business Owner
5 Derek Slap Dem West Hartford 2019 ^ Bloomfield (part), Burlington, Farmington (part), West Hartford College Professor
6 Rick Lopes Dem New Britain 2020 Berlin, Farmington (part), New Britain Business Owner
7 John Kissel Rep Enfield 1993 ^ East Granby, Ellington (part), Enfield, Granby (part), Somers, Suffield, Windsor (part), Windsor Locks Corporate Attorney
8 Lisa Seminara Rep Avon 2022 Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby (part), Hartland, Harwinton (part), New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury, Torrington (part)Social Worker
9 Matt Lesser Dem Middletown 2018 Cromwell, Middletown (part), Newington, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield (part)Former State Representative
10 Gary Winfield Dem New Haven 2014 ^ New Haven (part), West Haven (part)Photographer, Business Owner
11 Martin Looney Dem New Haven 1993 Hamden (part), New Haven (part)AttorneyPresident Pro-Tempore
12 Christine Cohen Dem Guilford 2018 Branford, Durham (part), East Haven (part), Guilford, Killingworth, Madison, Middlefield (part), North Branford (part)Business Owner
13 Jan Hochadel Dem Meriden 2022 Cheshire (part), Meriden, Middlefield (part), Middletown (part)Union President
14 James Maroney Dem Milford 2018 Milford, Orange, West Haven (part), Woodbridge (part)Retired Attorney
15 Joan Hartley Dem Waterbury 2000 Middlebury (part), Naugatuck (part), Waterbury (part)Teacher
16 Rob Sampson Rep Wolcott 2018Cheshire (part), Prospect, Southington, Waterbury (part), Wolcott Realtor
17 Jorge Cabrera Dem Hamden 2020 Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden (part), Naugatuck (part), Woodbridge (part)Union Organizer
18 Heather Somers Rep Groton 2016 Griswold, Groton, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington, Voluntown Business Executive
19 Cathy Osten Dem Sprague 2012 Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Marlborough, Montville (part), Norwich, Sprague Corrections Officer
20 Martha Marx Dem New London 2022 Bozrah, East Lyme, Montville (part), New London, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), Salem, Waterford Nurse
21 Kevin Kelly Rep Stratford 2010 Monroe (part), Seymour (part), Shelton, Stratford (part)Attorney
22 Marilyn Moore Dem Bridgeport 2014 Bridgeport (part), Monroe (part), Trumbull Community Organizer
23 Herron Gaston Dem Bridgeport 2022Bridgeport (part), Stratford (part)Pastor
24 Julie Kushner Dem Danbury 2018 Danbury, New Fairfield (part), Ridgefield (part)Community Organizer
25 Bob Duff Dem Norwalk 2000 Darien (part), Norwalk RealtorMajority Leader
26 Ceci Maher Dem Wilton 2022Darien (part), New Canaan (part), Stamford (part), Redding, Ridgefield (part), Weston (part), Westport, Wilton Social Worker
27 Patricia Billie Miller Dem Stamford 2021 ^ Darien (part), Stamford (part)
28 Tony Hwang Rep Fairfield 2014Bethel (part), Easton, Fairfield, Newtown,Realtor
29 Mae Flexer Dem Windham 2014 Brooklyn, Canterbury, Killingly, Mansfield, Pomfret, Putnam, Scotland, Thompson (part), Windham Nonprofit Organizer
30 Stephen Harding Rep Brookfield 2022 Bethlehem (part), Brookfield (part), Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Fairfield (part), New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Sherman, Torrington (part), Warren, Washington (part), Winchester AttorneyMinority Leader
31 Henri Martin Rep Bristol 2014 Bristol, Harwinton (part), Plainville, Plymouth, Thomaston Real Estate Business Owner
32 Eric Berthel Rep Watertown 2017 ^ Bethel (part), Bethlehem (part), Bridgewater, Brookfield (part), Middlebury (part), Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour (part), Southbury, Washington (part), Watertown, Woodbury Strategic Outreach
33 Norman Needleman Dem Essex 2018 Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), Portland, Westbrook First Selectman
34 Paul Cicarella Rep North Haven 2020Durham (part), East Haven (part), North Branford (part), North Haven, Wallingford Private Investigator
35 Jeff Gordon Rep Woodstock 2022 Ashford, Chaplin, Coventry, Eastford, Ellington (part), Hampton,Stafford, Thompson (part), Tolland, Union, Vernon, Willington, Woodstock Physician
36 Ryan Fazio

Rep

 Greenwich 2021 ^ Greenwich, New Canaan (part), Stamford (part)Greenwich Representative Town Meeting Member
^ Senator was first elected in a special election.

Past composition of the Senate

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Orcutt, Jacob (Fall 2018). "Connecticut's Old State House: Where the Constitution of 1818 Was Born". Connecticut Explored. Vol. 16, no. 4. pp. 46–48. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  2. ↑ Under the Gold Dome: An Insider's Look at the Connecticut Legislature, by Judge Robert Satter. New Haven: Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, 2004, pp. 16–27.
  3. ↑ "Senate Members (listed alphabetically)". Connecticut General Assembly . Retrieved February 14, 2013.
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