Susan Bysiewicz ( ; born September 29, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who is the 109th lieutenant governor of Connecticut, serving since January 9, 2019. She previously served as the 72nd 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 United States Senate in the 2012 election to replace the retiring Joe Lieberman. She lost the Democratic primary to U.S. 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. She was nominated for lieutenant governor during the state primary. Early life, education and law career Bysiewicz was born September 29, 1961 in New Haven and raised on a farm. The daughter of Stan and Shirley Bysiewicz, she was raised by a Catholic family of Polish and Greek descent in Middletown, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and her Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law. During law school, she wrote Ella: A Biography of Governor Ella Grasso. Bysiewicz practiced law in New York City for two years as an associate of White & Case (1986–88). In 1988 she became associated with the Hartford firm of Robinson & Cole, L.L.C. where she practiced for four years, and then joined the legal department of Aetna where she was employed from 1992–94. Connecticut House of Representatives (1993–1999) Elections After the redistricting that followed the 1990 Federal Census, 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. Tenure 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)