View source for Beth Bye

{{short description|American politician from Connecticut|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox officeholder 
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name = Beth Bye
| honorific-suffix =
| image               = Beth Bye (5749430218).jpg
| office              = Commissioner of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood
| governor            = [[Ned Lamont]]
| term_start          = January 9, 2019
| term_end            = 
| state_senate1       =Connecticut State
| district1           =5th
| term_start1         =January 2011
| term_end1           =January 9, 2019
| preceded1           =[[Jonathan Harris (politician)|Jonathan Harris]]
| succeeded1          = [[Derek Slap]]
| state_house2        =Connecticut
| district2           =19th
| term_start2         =January 2007
| term_end2           =January 2011
| preceded2           =Bob Farr
| succeeded2          =[[Brian Becker]]
| birth_date          =
| birth_place         =[[Greenwich, Connecticut]]
| residence           =[[West Hartford, Connecticut]]
| party               =[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
| spouse              ={{marriage|Tracey Wilson|December 10, 2006}}
| website             =
}}
'''Elizabeth Bye''' is an [[Politics of the United States|American politician]] from [[Connecticut]]. A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], she is the commissioner of the state's Office of Early Childhood. She served as a member of the [[Connecticut State Senate]] from 2011 to 2019, representing the 5th district, which includes part of [[Bloomfield, Connecticut|Bloomfield]], most of [[Farmington, Connecticut|Farmington]], all of [[Burlington, Connecticut|Burlington]] and all of [[West Hartford, Connecticut|West Hartford]]. Bye also served two terms in the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]] from 2007 to 2011.

==Early life and education==
Bye was born and raised in [[Greenwich, Connecticut]]. She graduated from St. Mary's High School (now [[Trinity Catholic High School (Connecticut)|Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford]]) in Greenwich in 1980 and from the [[University of New Hampshire]] with a [[Master of Arts]] degree in child development in 1989. In 2013, Bye completed Harvard University's [[Harvard Kennedy School|John F. Kennedy School of Government]] program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a [[David Bohnett Foundation]] LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.In 2023 she completed a 3 year Salzburg Global Seminar fellowship for international education leaders.

==Professional and political career==

Beth Bye was appointed as Commissioner for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood by Governor [[Ned Lamont]] in January 2019.

Bye, who served in the Senate from 2011 to the present and in the House from 2007 through 2010, will lead an office created in 2013 to coordinate and enhance various early childhood development programs and create a cohesive early care system.

In 2013, Bye led the effort to create The Office of Early Childhood, one of the first such offices in the country.  Her work as champion for the creation of the office is informed by her own, long-term experience since 1980 as an early childhood professional.

Bye’s experience includes leadership positions at Auerfarm/Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School, Great by 8, the Capitol Region Education Council, and she also helped to open two early childhood magnet schools. Bye was the director at both the Trinity College Community Child Center and the University of St. Joseph School for Young Children, which was named the State of Connecticut model pre-school.

Commissioner Bye received her BA and MA in Child Development from the [[University of New Hampshire]].

===Connecticut State Legislature===
A former Vice Chair of the [[West Hartford, Connecticut|West Hartford]] Board of Education, she was elected to the legislature in November 2006. She defeated [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Barbara Carpenter, a member of the town council, by a margin of 57% to 43% and was therefore elected to succeed longtime Republican incumbent Bob Farr. Although the district had elected a Republican for the 26 years prior to her 2006 win, she nevertheless won re-election comfortably in 2008: Bye garnered 64% of the vote to her Republican opponent's 36%.<ref name="reelect">{{cite news |date=2008-11-05 |url=http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2008/11/04/news/doc49112f7d37eaf615766244.txt |accessdate=2008-11-07 |work=New Britain Herald |title=Bye secures second term }}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In May 2010, shortly after [[Jonathan Harris (politician)|Sen. Jonathan Harris]] (D-West Hartford) announced that he would not run for another term in the senate in order to seek the Democratic nomination for secretary of the state, Bye declared her candidacy for his senate seat.<ref>{{cite news |date=2010-05-21|url=http://www.westhartfordnews.com/articles/2010/05/21/news/doc4bf71221351ca299288106.txt |accessdate=2010-05-26 |work=West Hartford News |title=Beth Bye announces state senate candidacy}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.courant.com/2010/05/25/connecticut-democrats-choose-state-senate-candidates/|title=Connecticut Democrats Choose State Senate Candidates|date=May 25, 2010|work=[[Hartford Courant]]}}</ref> She won the Democratic nomination unopposed and easily prevailed against a Republican opponent. She took office as a state senator on January 5, 2011. There she led the passage of several important initiatives. She worked with Students 4 a Dream and legislators from both sides of the aisle to pass both in state tuition and financial aid for undocumented immigrants. She also was Chair of the Legislature's Appropriation Committee where she and her Co-Chair, Rep. Toni Walker worked to seed funding for a CT Paid Leave system - through funding a study of the costs and payment options. As Chair of Higher Education, she brought out the Governor's Bill to establish Bioscience CT in Farmington and prevailed in a long, 8 hour debate. She also brought out the bill for transgender rights in the Senate, as well as the bill that allowed for Family Child Care workers in CT to Unionize - in collaboration with Sen. Edith Prague. She led the effort to allow communities to establish broadband and established the Office of State Broadband, working closely with Elin Katz, the Consumer Advocate, and Kevin Lembo, State Comptroller.  Working with Sen. President Don Williams, Sen. Bye led an effort to establish Smart Start, a state and local program to add 600 preschool spaces in towns with Title 1 Schools. 

In supporting her local West Hartford community efforts, Sen. Bye worked with Rep. Fleischmann to fund a new Charter Oak School with predominantly state dollars to establish a model magnet school. She was also able to add funding for more state funded preschool in West Hartford through School Readiness and Smart Start. She funded the initial study to support a vision for a walkable, bike-able North Main Street in Town. She secured bond funding to support the Noah Webster House and  University of Saint Joseph. 

In January 2019, then-incoming Governor Ned Lamont appointed Bye to lead the state Office of Early Childhood leading her to resign from the state legislature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctmirror.org/2019/01/02/lamont-names-bye-lead-office-early-childhood/|title=Lamont names Bye to lead Office of Early Childhood|date=2019-01-02|website=The CT Mirror|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref>

==Personal life==
A [[lesbian]], Bye married Dr. Tracey Wilson on November 12, 2008. They were the first gay couple to be married in Connecticut.<ref>{{cite news |date=2008-11-13 |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9579.html/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505041410/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9579.html/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 5, 2013 |accessdate=2011-01-05 |work=[[Pink News]] |title=Connecticut politician's joy at her lesbian wedding, the first in the state }}</ref> Tracey Wilson was a West Hartford town historian and the couple lived with their four children in West Hartford. Dr. Wilson died on February 23, 2025. As of 2018, Bye was one of two [[coming out|openly gay]] members of the [[Connecticut General Assembly]], serving alongside Rep. [[Jeffrey Currey]] (D-[[East Hartford, Connecticut|East Hartford]]). Bye is the first member of the legislature to enter into a [[civil unions in Connecticut|civil union]].

==Electoral history==

{{Election box begin no change |title=[[Connecticut House of Representatives]]: General Election 2006: 19th District}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Beth Bye
   |votes      = 6,114
   |percentage = 57.4
   |change     = 
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Republican Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Barbara Carpenter
   |votes      = 4,535
   |percentage = 42.6
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change |title=[[Connecticut House of Representatives]]: General Election 2008: 19th District}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Beth Bye
   |votes      = 8,457
   |percentage = 63.1
   |change     = 
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Republican Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Thereas McGrath
   |votes      = 4,936
   |percentage = 36.9
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change |title=[[Connecticut Senate]]: General Election 2010: 5th District}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Beth Bye
   |votes      = 25,124
   |percentage = 62.3
   |change     = 
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Republican Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Joseph Merritt
   |votes      = 15,182
   |percentage = 37.7
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

Bye ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2012.

{{Election box begin no change |title=[[Connecticut Senate]]: General Election 2014: 5th District}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Beth Bye
   |votes      = 22,181
   |percentage = 58.9
   |change     = 
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Republican Party (United States)
   |candidate  = [[Bill Wadsworth]]
   |votes      = 14,653
   |percentage = 38.9
 }}
{{Election box candidate no change
  |party      = Independent Party
  |candidate  = Bill Wadsworth
  |votes      = 804
  |percentage = 2.1
  }}
{{Election box candidate no change
  |party      = Total
  |candidate  = Bill Wadsworth
  |votes      = 15,457
  |percentage = 41.1
  }}
{{Election box total no change
  |votes = 37,638
  |percentage = 100
  }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change |title=[[Connecticut Senate]]: General Election 2016: 5th District}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Beth Bye
   |votes      = 30,655
   |percentage = 60.4
   |change     = 
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |party      = Republican Party (United States)
   |candidate  = Mark Merritt
   |votes      = 20,088
   |percentage = 39.6
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150425195551/http://www.bethbyeforsenate.com/ Campaign web site]
*[http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/bye.php Legislative homepage]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bye, Beth}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives]]
[[Category:American lesbian politicians]]
[[Category:LGBTQ state legislators in Connecticut]]
[[Category:University of New Hampshire alumni]]
[[Category:Women state legislators in Connecticut]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Connecticut state senators]]
[[Category:21st-century American women politicians]]
[[Category:Politicians from Greenwich, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly]]