House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) are not your traditional “power couple.”
Together, though, Ritter, 41, and Looney, 78, have presided over the state General Assembly as, well, a couple since Ritter was first elected speaker in 2021. For the 2025 legislative session, both find themselves entrenched at the top of their respective chambers.
In fact, Ritter is just the third person elected to a third, two-year term as speaker. Looney, meanwhile, has led the Senate majority for 10 years.
Ritter, who is also a lawyer with Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin, has strong political roots. His father, Tom Ritter, is a former house speaker and now is a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick in Hartford. Tom Ritter also sits on the UConn board of trustees. Matt’s mother, Christine E. Keller, is a former state Supreme Court justice.
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Looney’s political roots also run deep. He was first elected to the state House in 1981, and served six terms before joining the Senate in 1993, where he served 12 years as majority leader before taking on his current role.
As well acquainted as they are with their respective roles, the job doesn’t get any easier, particularly during a six-month legislative session when more than 2,000 House bills and 1,400 Senate bills are proposed.
Yet, both Ritter and Looney agree that education and housing are the top priorities for the 2025 session. Other priorities include reining in high energy costs and supporting labor.