Biography:

John B. Larson was born in Hartford, Conn., and raised in East Hartford, Conn., where he still lives. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Central Connecticut State University in 1971, and has taken graduate courses in education and in government. He was an elementary and high school teacher in East Hartford and Farmington, Conn., from 1971 to 1977, and then opened the insurance firm Larson & Lysik.

He served six terms in the state Senate _ four of them as the chamber's president pro tempore. After winning the Democratic convention's endorsement for governor in 1994, he lost a primary to eventual runner-up Bill Curry. Larson served as chairman of the statewide initiative to wire public schools to the Internet in 1996. He has been a senior fellow at Yale University's Bush Center for Child Development and Social Policy since 1994. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1998.

Larson and his wife, Leslie, have three children: Carolyn, Laura and Raymond.

Past Campaigns:

John Larson was elected to the U.S. House in 1998, defeating Republican Kevin O'Connor with 59 percent of the vote in the race to succeed Democratic Rep. Barbara Kennelly who vacated her seat to run for governor.

Larson first was elected to the Connecticut Senate in 1982, and was re-elected five times. He served as Senate president pro tempore for four terms, which was the longest such tenure in state history.

Larson ran for governor in 1994, won the convention endorsement, but snared 45 percent of the vote to Bill Curry's 55 percent and lost the primary.

Larson, earlier in his career, served as a school board member and town council member. Larson won re-election in 2000 with 71 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected to the House in 2002.

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