Bill Curry

William Edward Curry Jr. (born December 17, 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American lawyer and politician who has been a two-time Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut and a White House advisor in the administration of Bill Clinton. Education and early political life Curry was educated at St. Justin's School in Hartford and Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford. He received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a J.D. degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. In 1978, at the age of 26, he was elected state senator from a district that included Farmington, Connecticut. Curry served two terms and then faced fellow state senator Nancy Johnson, a moderate Republican from New Britain in 1982 for the open seat formerly held by Toby Moffett in what was then the Sixth Congressional District. Johnson defeated Curry. During the ensuing eight years, Curry practiced law and worked in public policy positions in Washington, D.C. He was head of Freeze Voter, a nuclear freeze group. In 1990, Curry was elected state comptroller after a convention fight, winning statewide election against the Republican nominee, Joel Schiavone. He served one term. Gubernatorial bids and the White House In 1994, Curry defeated John Larson for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The field in the general election included former Republican U.S. Representative John G. Rowland, Eunice Groark (lieutenant governor under the departing officeholder, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.), Curry and Tom Scott, a former Republican legislator from Milford, Connecticut and talk show host running a conservative, anti-tax independent candidacy. Rowland won that election by three points.