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Candidate Profile from Congressional Quarterly
John B. Larson (D) of East Hartford
Open Seat
- Born: July 22, 1948, Hartford.
- Education: Central Connecticut State
U., B.S., 1971.
- Military Service: None.
- Occupation: Children and family policy
analyst; insurance company executive.
- Family: Wife, Leslie; two children.
- Religion: Unspecified.
- Political Career: East
Hartford Board of Education, 1978-79; East
Hartford Town Council, 1979-83; Conn. Senate,
1983-94, president pro tem; sought Democratic
nomination for governor, 1994.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, residents of Connecticut's 1st district will have a new face in Congress. But Democrat John Larson is not a new name to Connecticut politics.
Larson, who led his own insurance firm before the election, easily won the seat of nine-term Rep. Barbara Kennelly, D, who left Congress to run for governor.
Larson served in the state Senate from 1982 to 1994 and proved himself a strong builder of bipartisan coalitions.
In 1984, when Republicans took control the state Senate, Larson was the only Democrat allowed to chair a committee the energy and technology panel. Two years later, when the Democrats won back a majority, Larson was named Senate president pro tem, the third-highest office in the state. Larson continued to serve in that leadership post for the next eight years, the longest serving president pro tem in state history.
Larson, who grew up in a public housing project in a family of eight children, has focused on education and family issues throughout much of his political career. While in the state Senate, Larson authored Connecticut's Family and Medical Leave Act the first to be enacted in the country.
He also developed "family resource centers" across the district, a program where public school buildings are used to offer child care and family support services.
Larson says he wants to continue his work on education once on Capitol Hill. In particular, he wants to bring computer technology into more schools.
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