Rell, M. Jodi (Mary Jodi), 1946-
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Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell (born June 16, 1946) is an American former politician and the 87th Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. Rell also served as the state's 105th Lieutenant Governor. The state's second female Governor, after Ella Grasso, she is the most recent Republican Governor of Connecticut as of 2021.
Born Mary Carolyn Reavis in Norfolk, Virginia, Rell attended Old Dominion University and Western Connecticut State University. In her early career, she tutored and did substitute work for the Hartford Public Schools. Rell's political career began as a campaign worker for Connecticut state Rep. David Smith during several of his campaigns. After Smith declined to seek re-election to a fifth term, he encouraged Rell to enter the race to succeed him. Rell was elected in 1984, representing the 107th District in northwestern Fairfield County, centered around Brookfield. She served from 1985 to 1995.
She became lieutenant governor after the 1994 election as John Rowland's running mate and won re-election in 1998 and 2002, becoming governor in 2004 after Rowland resigned due to corruption. Running in her own right two years later, Rell defeated her Democratic opponent, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. in the 2006 Connecticut gubernatorial election, receiving approximately 710,000 votes, the highest total for any gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut history. She announced on November 9, 2009, that she would not seek re-election to a second full term, retiring on January 5, 2011.
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- Governors
- Lieutenant governors
- State Representative
- Substitute teachers
- Tutors
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- VA, US
