Nancy Wyman

Nancy Schmukler Wyman was an American Democratic politician whose four-decade career took her from a Connecticut school board to the offices of state comptroller and lieutenant governor. She was the first woman elected Connecticut state comptroller since the office was created in 1786, served as the 108th lieutenant governor from 2011 to 2019, and later chaired the Connecticut Democratic Party. Colleagues remembered her as a happy warrior: partisan when needed, warm across the aisle, and unmistakable in spiked heels even when marching in parades.

Wyman was born on April 21, 1946, in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn in a Jewish family. Her father worked as an accountant and delivered the New York Daily News to supplement the household income. She trained as an X-ray technician, earning an associate degree in radiological technology from Long Island College Hospital. In 1966 she married R. Michael Wyman. The couple settled in Tolland, Connecticut, in 1973 to raise their two daughters, Stacey and Meryl. Dissatisfaction with her daughters' public-school education drew her into local civic life. She served on the Tolland Board of Education for years, including as vice chair, before winning election to the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 53rd District in 1986.

As a state representative from 1987 to 1995, Wyman was part of the legislative majority that, with Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr., adopted a state income tax in 1991 while lowering other rates. In 1994 she defeated Republican Gene Gavin to become state comptroller, succeeding William E. Curry Jr. She held the office for sixteen years through the administrations of Governors John Rowland and M. Jodi Rell, easily winning re-election against successive Republican challengers. As comptroller she oversaw health and retirement benefits for about 200,000 state employees, retirees, and dependents, and issued monthly and year-end analyses of state finances.

Wyman emerged as an early voice of caution inside her own party about Connecticut's unfunded pension and retiree health liabilities. She opposed a retirement-incentive plan she believed would worsen long-term costs, warning that children and grandchildren would pay for short-sighted budget fixes. At the same time she was an early champion of LGBT equality. As comptroller she extended same-sex domestic partner health benefits to state employees and, in 2007, testified for marriage equality, saying that to violate the rights of a few is to violate the rights of all. Same-sex marriage became legal in Connecticut by court order in 2008.

In 2010 Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy persuaded her to leave a safe path to a fifth term as comptroller and join his gubernatorial ticket. Their narrow win ended twenty years of Democratic losses in Connecticut governor races. Malloy later called her decision the best thing that ever happened to him politically. As lieutenant governor from January 2011 to January 2019, Wyman was a full partner in an administration defined by fiscal crisis and pension repair. The state made its actuarially required pension contributions throughout Malloy's eight years. Wyman also led the creation of Access Health CT, Connecticut's state-based Affordable Care Act exchange, insisting the state build its own marketplace rather than rely on the troubled federal website. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy later argued that her persistence helped stabilize health coverage nationally while federal systems were repaired.

As Senate president, she cast decisive votes in a chamber that was often closely divided, including an early 2011 vote to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and a 2017 vote ratifying a controversial state-employee concession deal. She cast Connecticut's votes for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. After leaving the lieutenant governorship in 2019, she briefly chaired the Connecticut Democratic Party at Governor-elect Ned Lamont's request. She declined to run for governor herself, citing the toll modern campaigning can take on families.

Wyman died on August 12, 2026, at age 80. Governor Ned Lamont ordered flags to half-staff. Tributes from Democrats and Republicans stressed her humor, loyalty, and trademark red high heels. State Rep. Matt Blumenthal called her "low drama in high heels." She was survived by her husband Michael, daughters Stacey Papa and Meryl Baldwin and their husbands, and grandchildren Kyle, Taylor, Lindsey, Max, and Sydney. Calling hours were held in Windsor on August 16, 2026.