Jesse Connolly

Jesse Connolly
Basic facts
Organization:	•Congresswoman Chellie Pingree
Role:	Chief of Staff
Location:	Portland, Maine
Education:	Bates College (B.A. political science and government)

Jesse Connolly is Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree's Chief of Staff. Connolly has been active in Maine and federal politics for over a decade, serving as campaign director for Baldacci and Mitchell during their gubernatorial races and managing Maine's "No On 1" campaign, which aimed to encourage voters to oppose Question 1 on the November 2005 ballot.

Career

Jesse Connolly grew up in Maine and attended Portland High School. He received a B.A. in political science and government from Bates College in 2001. His father was the late Larry Connolly, a former state representative who introduced Maine’s first gay rights bill in 1977.

After graduating, Connolly worked for the State Senate Democratic Campaign Committee as caucus director until December 2002, when he started work as communications director for the Maine Senate President’s Office (Beverly Daggett was Senate president at the time). Connolly also worked as Maine state director for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign in 2004.

In 2005, Connolly began to address gay rights as his father did when he joined Maine Won’t Discriminate as campaign director. The group was “created to work toward passing LGBT civil rights legislation in Maine and to advocate against/for citizens referenda that would have overturned/sustained such legislation,” according to University of South Maine's Maine Won’t Discriminate Archives.

Connolly worked specifically on the “No on 1” campaign, which aimed to achieve more “no” votes as an answer to Question 1 on Maine’s November 8, 2005 ballot: “Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?” The campaign was ultimately successful, with 223,274 “no” votes and 181,926 “yes” votes.

In 2006, Connolly joined Baldacci for Governor as campaign manager and then became Chief of Staff in the Maine House of Representatives a year later. He contributed to another gubernatorial race in Maine in 2010, acting as campaign manager for Libby Mitchell for Governor.

Connolly entered federal politics in 2012 when he joined the National Partnership for Women and Families as Campaign for Better Care’s campaign director. As of November 2015, Connolly is chief of staff for Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.

See also

• Maine Limiting Protected Classifications, Question 1 (1995)
• John Kerry
• Maine Reject Extension of Civil Rights Protections Regardless of Sexual Orientation, Question 1 (2005)
• John E. Baldacci
• Elizabeth Mitchell
• Chellie Pingree
• Maine House of Representatives

External links

• Jesse Connolly Twitter