Arthur J. Feltman, commonly known as Art Feltman, is an

American politician In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches share powers: Congress, which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legis ...

from the state of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he served for 12 years as a member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut 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 each ...

, representing the 6th District in

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. First elected in 1996, he was not a candidate for re-election in 2008 and left office in January 2009.

Biography

Educated at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

(B.A., 1980) and the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

(J.D., 1987), Feltman is a lawyer. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, after serving one year on the Hartford City Council. Prior to that, he had spent three years as commissioner of the city's redevelopment agency and eleven years on the Democratic town committee. In the legislature, he served as chair of the planning and development committee, also serving on the appropriations and education committees. Feltman is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Hartford in 2007.

References

1958 births Living people American gay politicians Jewish state legislators in Connecticut LGBTQ state legislators in Connecticut Gay Jews Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives University of Connecticut alumni Wesleyan University alumni Connecticut city council members Politicians from Paterson, New Jersey 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly 21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly {{Connecticut-politician-stub