Connecticut State Senate

Connecticut State Senate
Connecticut State Senate
Connecticut General Assembly
Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 4, 2023
Leadership
President	Susan Bysiewicz (D) ; since January 9, 2019
President pro tempore	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
Seats	36
Political groups	Majority Democratic (24); Minority Republican (12);
Length of term	2 years
Authority	Article III, Section 1, Connecticut Constitution
Salary	$40,000/year
Elections
Last election	November 8, 2022; (36 seats)
Next election	November 5, 2024; (36 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative 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.

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

	Senator	District
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.

↓
24	12
Democratic	Republican

Affiliation	Party		Total

	Democratic	Republican		Vacant
End of Previous Legislature: 2021–2023	23	13	36	0

Start of Current Legislature: 2023–2025	24	12	36	0
Latest Voting Share	66.7%	33.3%	100%

Members of the Senate

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

District	Name^[3]	Party	Hometown	First elected	Towns represented	Occupation	Leadership 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)	Attorney	President 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	2018	Cheshire (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	2022	Bridgeport (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	Realtor	Majority Leader
26	Ceci Maher	Dem	Wilton	2022	Darien (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	2014	Bethel (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	Attorney	Minority 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	2020	Durham (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

References

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ "Senate Members (listed alphabetically)". Connecticut General Assembly. Retrieved February 14, 2013.