Leonard F. Suzio Jr. (born January 4, 1948) is an American politician from

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 Republican, he represented the 13th district in the

Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

from 2017 to 2019, previously serving from 2011 to 2013.

Personal life

Suzio attended the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

. Shortly after graduation, he married Kathryn. Suzio was active in the Connecticut Victim Advocate Advisory Committee, founded the consultancy firm GeoDataVision, and served on the Meriden Board of Education from 1995 to 2009.

Political career

Suzio contested his first state legislative election in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, losing to incumbent state senator

Thomas Gaffey Thomas P. Gaffey (born January 10, 1958) is an American politician. Gaffey, a Democrat, had been a state senator from Connecticut since 1995, but left office due to criminal violations on January 5, 2011. Gaffey, a resident of Meriden, has rep ...

. After Gaffey resigned after being charged with

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...

, Suzio contested the subsequent special election for his seat. He defeated Democrat Thomas Bruenn in the special election, and took office on February 28, 2011. His election made him the first Republican to be elected from the 13th district since 1972. Suzio unsuccessfully ran for a full term in the 2012 election, losing to Democrat

Danté Bartolomeo Danté Jean Craig Bartolomeo (born 1969) is an American politician. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Bartolomeo was a member of the Connecticut Senate from 2013 to 2017, representing the 13th district. Prior to this, she was a membe ...

. He challenged Bartolomeo for a rematch in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

election, but lost. Suzio launched another campaign for the seat in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In what was described as an

upset victory An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the "favorite") is defeated by (or, in the case of sports, ties with) an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying ...

by the ''

New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and i ...

'', Suzio defeated Bartolomeo to reclaim his seat. In May 2018, Suzio announced that he would run for a second consecutive term. He lost his

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

re-election bid to

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 ...

Mary Daugherty Abrams.

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzio, Len 1948 births Living people Politicians from Meriden, Connecticut Republican Party Connecticut state senators School board members in Connecticut Wharton School alumni 21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly 20th-century American people