Denise W. Merrill (born October 8, 1948) is an American politician who most recently served as the

Connecticut Secretary of the State The secretary of the State of Connecticut is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. (The definite article is part of the legal job title.) It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four ...

from 2011 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Merrill was previously a member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

Education

Merrill graduated from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. She attended but did not graduate from the San Francisco Law School, now merged with

Alliant International University Alliant International University, often called Alliant, is a private for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego and other campuses in California. It offers programs in six California campuses – in San Francisco, San Diego, L ...

, and was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

Career

Connecticut House of Representatives

Merrill was first elected to office in 1993 in a special election and served as the House

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

after being elected to that position prior to the 2009 legislative session and until becoming Secretary of the State. Previously, Merrill had served as the House Chair on the Appropriations Committee from 2005 to 2008. In the State House she represented Fifty-Fourth Assembly District, which includes the towns of

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market to ...

and Chaplin.

Secretary of State

Following the state Democratic primary held on August 10, 2010, Merrill became her party's nominee for Secretary of the State for the November 2010 election. She went on to defeat Republican candidate Jerry Farrell Jr. on November 2. As a serving Secretary of State, she is a part of the

National Association of Secretaries of State The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), founded in 1904, is the oldest non-partisan professional organization of public officials in the United States, composed of the secretaries of state of U.S. states and territories. Currentl ...

and was also elected its president for the 2016–2017 term. On June 23, 2021, she announced her intent not to seek re-election in 2022. On June 28, 2022, Merrill announced her resignation effective June 30, in order to spend more time caring for her ailing husband.

Other work

She currently serves on the Board of Advisors of

Let America Vote Let America Vote is a political action organization founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander in February 2017. Its mission is to end voter suppression across the country. Overview Kander first became concerned about voter suppr ...

, an organization founded by former

Missouri Secretary of State The people below have served as the Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Missouri. List Gallery File:Warren E. Hearnes.jpg, Warren E. Hearnes File:James C. Kirkpatrick.jpg, James C. Kirkpatrick File:Rep Roy Blunt.jpg, Roy Blunt File:Mattb ...

Jason Kander that aims to end

voter suppression Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting ...

Personal life

Merrill is also a classically trained pianist. She has three grown children and five grandchildren.

Electoral history

*Merrill was also nominated on A Connecticut Party line. *Merrill was also listed on the Working Families Party line. *Merrill was also listed on the Working Families Party line. *Merrill was also listed on the Working Families Party line; Lumaj was also listed on the Independent Party line. *Merrill was also listed on the Working Families Party line; Chapman was also listed on the Independent Party line.

References

External links

Office of the Secretary of the State
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Denise 1948 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians California lawyers Connecticut lawyers Living people Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives People from Mansfield, Connecticut Secretaries of the State of Connecticut University of Connecticut alumni Women state legislators in Connecticut