Marie Teresa Paiva-Weed (born November 5, 1959) is an American attorney and politician who served as President of the Rhode Island Senate. She is a member of the Democratic Party who represented the 13th District (Jamestown and Newport) from 2003 until 2013 and the 49th District (Jamestown, Middletown, and Newport) from 1993 to 2003. In November 2008, she was elected President of the Senate. She was Majority Leader from 2004 to 2008. Paiva-Weed left office in 2017 to become President of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island. Early life and education M. Teresa née Paiva Weed was born on November 5, 1959 at the Newport Naval Hospital, in Newport, Rhode Island. She is the daughter of Arthur J. and Marie Paiva. Both parents were active in community charities and politics. Paiva Weed was raised in Newport and graduated from Rogers High School in 1977. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Providence College. She would go on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University. At an early age, Paiva Weed would meet her husband, Mark Weed, at school. The two would be married for 23 years before Mark Weed succumbed to cancer on August 22, 2009. She would later establish a memorial summer camp scholarship fund in his memory involving the Newport Gulls summer collegiate baseball team. Pavia Weed served as an attorney for the law firm Moore, Virgadamo & Lynch. She retired from the practice in 2008. Rhode Island State Senate Elections Paiva-Weed first entered politics in 1992 when she ran for a seat in the 49th District of the Rhode Island Senate, winning 62% of the vote against Republican Ellen M. McDonagh. Following 2001 redistricting that reduced the Rhode Island Senate from 50 to 38 members, she faced a primary election in the new 13th District against fellow incumbent J. Clement Cicilline, winning 75% of the vote, then winning 74% against Republican Janine M. Atamian in the general election. Tenure Paiva-Weed has advanced steadily in the Rhode Island Senate. She was named Chair of the Judiciary Committee in 1997 and was selected as Senate Majority Leader in 2004. She is Rhode Island's first woman to serve as Senate Majority Leader. Leadership Paiva Weed was elected Senate President in 2009. She was the first Rhode Island woman to serve in that capacity. Raimondo proposal for truck tolls In response to the state's inability to fund major