Denise W. Merrill is a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician and the current Connecticut Secretary of the State

Secretary of the State of Connecticut

The Secretary of the State of Connecticut is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four years....

. Merrill was previously a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives

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 constituency containing nearly 22,600 residents...

.

State House

Merrill was first elected to office in 1994 and served as the House Majority Leader

Majority leader

In U.S. politics, the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.In the federal Congress, the role differs slightly in the two houses. In the House of Representatives, which chooses its own presiding officer, the leader of the majority party is elected the Speaker of the...

 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 2005-2008. In the State House she represented Fifty-Fourth Assembly District

Connecticut's 54th assembly district

The Fifty-Fourth Assembly District of Connecticut elects one member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Its current representative is Democrat Gregory Haddad...

, which includes the towns of Mansfield

Mansfield, Connecticut

Mansfield is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,720 at the 2000 census.Mansfield was incorporated in October 1702 from the Town of Windham, in Hartford County. When Windham County was formed on 12 May 1726, Mansfield then became part of that county...

 and Chaplin

Chaplin, Connecticut

Chaplin is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town was named for Deacon Benjamin Chaplin, an early settler. The population was 2,305 at the 2010 census.-Points of interest:* The Chaplin Museum is a local historical museum....

.

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.

Personal

Merrill is also a classically trained pianist. She has three grown children and one grandchild.

External links

• Office of the Secretary of the State