Biography

State Representative Mary Fortier proudly represents Connecticut's 79th Assembly district in Bristol and Forestville. She is an Assistant Majority Leader, the House Vice Chair for the Aging Committee, and a member of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee and Human Services Committee.

A lifelong Bristol resident, Rep. Fortier grew up and still lives in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Bristol.

Rep. Fortier started her career in politics, campaigning for Democrats as a teenager and later serving as Councilwoman in Bristol for eight years. As a Council member, she served on the Salary, Public Works, Water, Economic and Community Development, and Disability Commission. This cause hits home as her siblings are disabled.  

In her first term as councilwoman, she was a board member for the Bristol Community Organization (BCO), a local community action agency responsible for administering many Federal and State poverty-fighting programs that serve Bristol and surrounding communities. She is now the President of the Human Resources Agency (HRA) Board of Directors, which took over BCO and its service area in 2017.

Rep. Fortier graduated from Boston College with a BA in History and Secondary Education in 1983. After several years as a stay-at-home mom, Rep. Fortier earned a JD in 1995 at Western New England College School of Law.

For most of her legal career, Rep. Fortier worked as a clerk in the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. She was an active member of her union, Judicial Professional Employees AFT-CT, and represented them at the Greater Bristol Labor Federation.

Rep. Fortier is married to her husband, David Fortier, and together raised six children and have three grandchildren. She is an accomplished seamstress who enjoys gardening and yard work, preferably when it is under 80 degrees.