ABOUT MARY
Common Sense for
the Common Good
Mary Fortier is the Democratic candidate for Connecticut’s 79th House District. Mary, born and raised in Bristol, was elected to the City Council in 2013, where she served for nearly a decade. A lifelong resident, Mary graduated from St. Paul Catholic High School before earning a BA in History and Secondary Education from Boston College. Together with her husband David—another lifelong Bristol resident—Mary is the proud mother to six children and grandmother to two more.
As a young mother, Mary graduated from the Western New England College School of Law in 1995, after which she practiced law before moving on to the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, where she still works. Mary has been an active member of her union, Judicial Professional Employees AFT-CT, and represented them at the Greater Bristol Labor Federation.
Mary is a lifelong Democrat, considering herself a member of the party even before she was registered to vote. Interested in politics at a young age, as a teenager Mary campaigned with her next-door neighbor Steve Casey when he first ran for the 31st State Senate district in 1976.
As a Council member with broad experience, she has served on several different committees over the past six years, including Salary, Public Works, Water and Economic and Community Development, and throughout her tenure has served on the Disability Commission, to which she brings a unique perspective and enthusiasm—both of her siblings are disabled. In her first term she was also a member of the Bristol Community Organization, a local Community Action Agency responsible for administering many of the Federal and State poverty fighting programs. Mary served as a board member of the Human Resource Agency of New Britain, which in 2017 took over responsibility for the BCO and its service area.
In addition to the time she enjoys spending with family, Mary is an accomplished seamstress and enjoys gardening and yard work, preferably when it is cooler than 90 degrees. A daughter of Bristol, Mary still lives in the Federal Hill neighborhood, the very same in which she grew up.
MY VALUES
Dignity for All
I believe that the only way forward in Connecticut is together, that no one should be left behind, and that purpose is to be found in our responsibility to one another.
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I believe in the absolute value of human dignity, and that everyone, regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, disability, or privilege, has a right to that dignity.
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I believe that regardless of political party, these values are what bind Americans together, and indeed make us American. They're what make our country great, and what make us so proud to call this home.