Gary Winfield

About Senator Winfield

Chief Deputy Majority Leader

Chair: Judiciary

Vice Chair: Education

Member: Appropriations; Legislative Management; Veterans’ Affairs

Originally sworn in on February 28, 2014, Gary Winfield is serving his fifth term as a Connecticut State Senator.

Prior to his time in the state senate, Senator Winfield served an unprecedented three terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, marked by passage of the state’s repeal of the death penalty, a transgender civil rights bill, education equity and campaign finance reform legislation.

As a state senator, Senator Winfield has been an instrumental leader in helping to reshape conversations surrounding criminal justice, juvenile justice and immigration policy. In 2015, Senator Winfield wrote and championed legislation aimed at reducing police use of force, including requiring the operation of body cameras and cultural competency training for all officers. In years that followed, Senator Winfield helped lead passage of legislation to raise the age at which juvenile arrestees could be tried as adults.

In 2018, after a series of high-profile incidents between residents and law enforcement, Senator Winfield led passage of two distinct pieces of legislation to improve community relationships with law enforcement and fortify trust in the state’s justice system during the 2019 legislative session. The first, House Bill 380, prohibits law enforcement officers from firing at a motor vehicle unless there is an imminent threat to the life of the officer or bystander and requires release of body cam footage after a deadly use of force accident; and Senate Bill 880, which increases prosecutorial transparency by requiring the state to collect, report, and publish information about prosecutors’ decisions on a public website each year.

In 2019, Senator Winfield’s passion for effective policy led him to draft and champion legislation permitting any state legislator to request the preparation of a racial and ethnic impact statement triggering the mandatory production of such statement, making Connecticut the first state in the nation to pass such a law. In addition to racial impact statements, Senator Winfield also engaged in an eight hour debate to protect and strengthen the Connecticut Trust Act, which passed both the House and Senate respectively.

Prior to serving in the Connecticut General Assembly, Senator Winfield voluntarily left both his positions as a field advisor for Alston Power Inc. and as an electrical construction manager for a power plant in Milford to assume the role of a community activist, operating among members of his community for social change.

Originally from the Bronx, Senator Winfield credits his experience of growing up in a tough environment, his father succumbing to drugs and watching his mother struggle as a single mother, as the source of his passion for social justice. He graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science.

The senator currently resides in New Haven with his wife Rasheda and their four children, Heaven, Keyari, Gary and Imani.