35 Facts About Susan Bysiewicz

Susan Bysiewicz is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 109th lieutenant governor of Connecticut since 2019.

Susan Bysiewicz previously served as the 72nd secretary of the state of Connecticut from 1999 to 2011 and a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999.

Susan Bysiewicz was briefly a candidate for governor of Connecticut in 2010, before dropping out to run for Connecticut Attorney General.

Susan Bysiewicz was disqualified from running for the office by the Connecticut Supreme Court and announced in 2011 that she was running for the United States Senate in the 2012 election to replace the retiring Joe Lieberman but lost the Democratic primary to US Representative Chris Murphy, who went on to win the general election.

In 2018, Bysiewicz filed papers to run for governor of Connecticut but withdrew shortly before the Democratic Convention, in order to run for lieutenant governor as Ned Lamont's running mate.

Susan Bysiewicz was nominated for lieutenant governor during the state primary.

Susan Bysiewicz was born September 29,1961, in New Haven and raised on a farm.

The daughter of Stan and Shirley Susan Bysiewicz, she was raised by a Catholic family of Polish and Greek descent in Middletown, Connecticut.

Susan Bysiewicz received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and her Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law.

Susan Bysiewicz was a part of the largest Freshman class of the state legislature since 1974.

Susan Bysiewicz 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 and Middlefield, and throughout the town of Durham.

In 1998, Susan Bysiewicz sought the Democratic nomination for Secretary of the State.

Susan Bysiewicz won re-election in 2002, but in 2005, while serving, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the gubernatorial election of 2006.

Susan Bysiewicz withdrew from that race in September 2005, and on November 7,2006, won a third term as Secretary of the State.

Susan Bysiewicz developed Connecticut's first electronic filing system for voter registration to prevent fraud and encourage registration.

Susan Bysiewicz instituted an electronic business searching system called CONCORD that allows users to search a database of all the registered companies in the State of Connecticut.

Susan Bysiewicz advocated with success at the legislature for the passage of a constitutional amendment that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries.

On January 27,2009, Susan Bysiewicz made public her intention to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Connecticut in the 2010 election.

In January 2010 Susan Bysiewicz dropped her bid for governor, choosing to run for attorney general.

On January 21,2010, Quinnipiac University released its results a poll of the primary for attorney general which found that Susan Bysiewicz had a 52-point lead.

Susan Bysiewicz claimed that her years managing the Secretary of the State's office should be applied against this requirement.

Susan Bysiewicz sought an opinion from the current attorney general, Richard Blumenthal on the issue.

Blumenthal responded that he believed the law to be valid, but the question as to whether Susan Bysiewicz met the requirements had to be decided by the courts or the legislature.

Susan Bysiewicz had to explain filing a form seeking a waiver of a state fee, when she claimed not to be actively practicing law.

In consequence, Susan Bysiewicz was unable run for attorney general in 2010, leaving former State Senator George Jepsen the sole remaining Democratic candidate in the race, which he subsequently won.

Susan Bysiewicz disputed the widely quoted figure of 21,000 ordered ballots, but didn't provide an alternative number.

Susan Bysiewicz said she had directed local officials to order enough ballots but had not monitored Bridgeport officials to ensure the directive was followed, as she had no legal authority to do so.

Susan Bysiewicz answered Tom Foley directly, on a local Connecticut NPR radio program, who complained that she had improperly announced a winner.

Susan Bysiewicz argued that she had made it clear the results were "unofficial", and that she was merely "sharing information"; she promised to send Foley any information he required upon his request.

On January 18,2011, Susan Bysiewicz announced her candidacy in the 2012 election for the US Senate seat which had been held by Joe Lieberman, who retired at the end of that term.

Susan Bysiewicz's campaign was endorsed by numerous elected officials as well as the political action committee EMILY's List.

Susan Bysiewicz was defeated by US Representative Chris Murphy, who defeated Republican Linda McMahon in the general election.

Susan Bysiewicz said that since the election in 2016 of Len Suzio, the first Republican elected in the district which encompasses the cities of Middletown and Meriden for several decades, she had been prevailed on by many Democrats eager to regain the seat.

Susan Bysiewicz is the chair of the Connecticut Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census, and of the Governor's Council on Women and Girls, a platform for women engaged in politics and public policy.

Susan Bysiewicz met her husband, David Donaldson, while she was attending law school at Duke.