Gloria Schaffer

Gloria Schaffer
Schaffer in 1977
65th Secretary of State of Connecticut
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1978
Governor	Thomas Meskill Ella Grasso
Preceded by	Ella Grasso
Succeeded by	Henry Cohn
Personal details
Born	(1930-10-03) October 3, 1930 (age 94) New London, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Sarah Lawrence College (BA)

Gloria Wilinski Schaffer (born October 3, 1930) is an American politician who served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut from 1971 to 1978. A Democrat from New London, she served in the Connecticut State Senate from 1959 to 1971.^[1] She attended The Williams School and Sarah Lawrence College and ran for the United States Senate in 1976.^[2]

Schaffer won election to the Connecticut State Senate from the 14th Senate District in 1958, serving six terms (1959–1971). She chaired the state senate's education committee. She won election as Secretary of the State of Connecticut in 1970 and served two terms from 1971 to 1978. In 1976 she ran for U.S. Senator in Connecticut but lost by a wide margin to Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker. She was the only woman to win a major party nomination for the US Senate in 1976.^[1][3]

In 1978, Schaffer was appointed a member of the US Civil Aeronautics Board by President Jimmy Carter.^[3] In 1985, she was appointed a member of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission by Governor William A. O'Neill, and then was appointed commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Affairs by Governor Lowell Weicker in 1991.^[2]

As of 2018, Schaffer was serving as a Fellow of Branford College of Yale University.^[2]

• "Connecticut Political Collection". University of Connecticut Libraries. September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.