Elizabeth Esty

Elizabeth Esty (née Henderson; born August 25, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from CT's 5th congressional district from 2013 to 2019.

Elizabeth Henderson was born in 1959 in Oak Park, Illinois.

Her father worked as an engineer in a construction company and the family moved numerous times during her childhood.

She was raised in Minnesota and graduated from Winona Senior High School.

She earned a B.A. from Harvard College in 1981 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1985.

She also studied International Relations at L'Institut d'études politiques in Paris for a year on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

Esty volunteered for Planned Parenthood in college.

Esty has been a law clerk for a federal judge, a Supreme Court lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C., and professor at American University.

She is a member of the Cheshire Public Library Board, Legal Advisor to the Connecticut League of Women Voters Consensus Project, chair of the Board of Trustees for the First Congregational Church of Cheshire, lay member of the Committee on Ministry New Haven Association of the United Church of Christ, and a member of the Parent-Teacher Association.

In 2008, she challenged Republican State Representative Al Adinolfi of Connecticut's 103rd Assembly District.

She defeated him 51%-49%.

When aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney closed its Cheshire plant in 2009, Esty was among several politicians who fought to get workers new job placements or early retirement packages.

She opposes the death penalty.

A Democrat, she previously was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, representing the 103rd Assembly District, which consisted of Cheshire and parts of Hamden and Wallingford.

She also served two terms on the Cheshire Town Council.

The 5th congressional district spans central and northwest Connecticut, including Waterbury, Danbury, New Britain, Meriden, Torrington, Litchfield County, the Farmington Valley, Newtown, and Esty's hometown of Cheshire.

In 2010, Adinolfi challenged her in a rematch and defeated her 51%–49%.

She opposed Governor Jodi Rell's proposal to eliminate the state's Office of Consumer Counsel.

She cut her own pay by 10%.

Esty defeated two challengers in the August 14, 2012, Democratic primary to become the Democratic nominee in Connecticut's 5th congressional district, and on November 6, 2012, she defeated challenger Andrew Roraback.

In 2012, Democratic U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy of Connecticut's 5th congressional district decided to retire in order to run for the U.S. Senate.

Esty decided to run.

She was endorsed by EMILY's List.

She also won the newspaper endorsements from The New York Times, Hartford Courant and the Torrington Register-Citizen.

She defeated Daniel Roberti and State House Speaker Chris Donovan in the primary.

In the November 6 general election, Esty defeated State Senator Andrew Roraback to become the district's next representative.

Esty won despite the opposition of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose PAC channeled over a million dollars to her opponent.

Esty defeated Mark Greenberg on November 4, 2014, in the state's most competitive district to win her first re-election.

In 2014, Esty defeated her Republican opponent, Mark Greenberg, earning 53.2% of the vote to Greenberg's 45.8%, despite Greenberg spending more than $1,600,000 of his own money on the campaign.

On November 8, 2016, Esty defeated Sherman First Selectman Clay Cope by a margin of 58%–42% to win re-election a second time.

In 2016, Esty defeated Republican Clay Cope, the First Selectman of Sherman, Connecticut, earning 58% of the vote to Cope's 42%.

Esty won 27 of the district's 41 cities and towns – including seven in which Donald Trump outperformed Hillary Clinton.

Esty won Cope's hometown of Sherman.

Esty received the endorsements of the Hartford Courant, Waterbury Republican-American, Danbury News-Times, Meriden Record-Journal, New Haven Register, Newtown Bee, and Lakeville Journal.

In early 2018, Esty faced public criticism after news reports revealed that her former chief of staff had been accused of sexual harassment and threats of violence against staff but that she kept him on the payroll for another three months and wrote him a positive letter of reference.

After initially insisting she would continue to serve, Esty announced that she would not seek reelection.

She cited her failure to protect women on her staff from sexual harassment and threats of violence from her former chief of staff.

Jahana Hayes succeeded Esty in Congress.

Esty announced on April 2, 2018, that, contrary to earlier declarations, she would not seek re-election in the 2018 midterm election.

She made this announcement some weeks after publication of accusations of sexual harassment against her chief of staff, Tony Baker.