Terri-Denise Cortvriend is an American politician, businesswoman, pilot, and yacht captain. She is a democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and before that served as a member of the Portsmouth School Committee. Education & career For High School she attended North Miami Senior High School. Cortvriend attended Miami-Dade Community College. She is an owner of an marine plumbing firm she founded in 1989. Before 1989, she worked as a yacht captain. Cortvriend holds a private pilot's license and a USCG Captain's license. She was a member of the Portsmouth School Committee for a total of nine years first from 2004 to 2008 and later from 2012 to 2018. Four of those years she served as the chairperson of the school committee. She has served on numerous boards and committees in the area including, the Newport Chamber of Commerce, the Portsmouth Water and Fire District Advisory Board, the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee, and the Portsmouth Charter Review Committee. Rhode Island House of Representatives Cortvriend was first elected to the House for the 72nd district in 2018, defeating Republican incumbent Kenneth J. Mendonca. District 72 is made up of parts of Portsmouth, Rhode Island and Middletown, Rhode Island on Aquidneck Island in Newport County. Elections 2018 Cortvriend announced that she was running after learning that Linda Finn, the Democratic representative who had previously been defeated by Mendoca, said she was not running. She ran as a small business owner who opposed Mendoca's bill that would allow businesses to pay workers under the age of 20 less than minimum wage. She also campaigned in favor of environmental protections. Cortvriend ran unopposed in the democratic primary and then later defeated Mendonca in the general election 54.6% to 45.3%. 2020 Cortvriend announced that she was running for reelection. She campaigned on sponsoring the Nathan Bruno and Jason Flatt Act, bringing climate literacy to K-12 schools, and helping constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican Kenneth Mendoca also announced that he was running for his old seat. The Providence Journal said this race was one of the Republican Party's best chances to pick up seats in the General Assembly and watchdog group RI Rank listed it as one of the most competitive assembly races in the state. Cortvriend won the primary contest against Christopher T. Semonelli with 80.7% of the vote and ended up defeating Mendoca again in the general election 57.5% to 42.3%.