Elizabeth O'Connor Little (born September 28, 1940) is a former

New York State Senator The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan compo ...

. A member of the Republican Party, she was first elected in 2002. She served in the 45th Senate District, which includes all or part of Clinton,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

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Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Counties.

Background

Little was born in

Glens Falls Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls refe ...

on September 28, 1940. Little is a graduate of the

College of Saint Rose The College of Saint Rose is a private Roman Catholic college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a women's college. It became fully co-educational in 1969; the following year, the college ad ...

with a degree in Elementary Education. She has worked as both teacher and a realtor. Little has six children and seventeen grandchildren. She is divorced.

Political career

Little first entered public service as a member and later Chair of the Town of Queensbury Recreation Commission. In 1986 she was elected to serve as an At-Large Supervisor to the

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

Board of Supervisors for the Town of Queensbury, where she served on numerous boards and committees and as County Budget Officer in 1990 and 1991. In 1995, Little won a special election to serve in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

, and would serve in the Assembly until winning election to the Senate in 2002.

New York Senate

In 2002, incumbent Republican Senator Ronald B. Stafford decided not to seek another term. As a result, Little announced that she would run to replace him. Despite the district being competitive on paper, Little easily won election to her first term in the Senate against Democrat Boyce Sherwin, 77% to 23%. Since her initial election, Little has never faced serious opposition, and was unopposed in 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. She faced the closest election of her career in 2018, but still won 64% to 36%. After the appointment of

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of Re ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in January 2009, Little expressed interest in running for

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

New York's 20th congressional district The 20th congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York's Capital District. It includes all of Albany and Schenectady counties, and portions of Montgomery, Rensselaer ...

and announced her intention to seek the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nomination for the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

for the seat. The nomination went instead to Assembly Minority Leader

Jim Tedisco James Nicholas Tedisco (born July 15, 1950) is an American politician. Since 2023, he has been the New York State Senator for New York's 44th State Senate district. A Republican, Tedisco served in the New York State Assembly from 1983 to 2017. ...

. Before the Republicans lost the Senate majority in the 2018 elections, Little served as Chair of the Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee. In December 2019, Little announced that she would not seek re-election the following year.

Political positions

Healthcare

Little has said she believes universal health care should be passed at the federal level to avoid unduly burdening the state.

Same-sex marriage

Little voted "No" on same-sex marriage legislation in December 2009 and the bill received no Republican Senate support. Little has said she supports

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s. In 2011, Little voted against the Marriage Equality Act, which the Senate passed 33-29. The 2011 bill became law.

References

External links

New York State Senate: Betty Little

State Senate Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Betty Living people College of Saint Rose alumni Politicians from Glens Falls, New York Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Republican Party New York (state) state senators Women state legislators in New York (state) Town supervisors in New York (state) 1940 births People from Queensbury, New York 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians