Patrick S. Boyd (born January 28, 1981) is an educator and American politician who is a member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an ...

, serving since 2017. He represents the Towns of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Eastford,

Pomfret Pomfrets are perciform fishes belonging to the family Bramidae. The family currently includes 20 species across seven genera. Several species are important food sources for humans, especially ''Brama brama'' in South Asia. The earlier form of t ...

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

composing the 50th district of the

Connecticut General Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...

. Boyd currently is the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Early life and education

Born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, Boyd is a

Plainfield, Connecticut Plainfield is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. The town comprises four villages: Plainfield (south, ZIP code 06374), Moosup (northeast, 06354), Wauregan (northwest, 06387), an ...

native, raised in Moosup where he attended local public schools and graduated from Plainfield High School in 1999. He earned a bachelor's degree in history & social science from

Eastern Connecticut State University Eastern Connecticut State University (Eastern, Eastern Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State, or ECSU) is a public liberal arts university in Willimantic, Connecticut. Founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest campus in the Connecticut State Univ ...

and later earned a master's degree from

Sacred Heart University Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholic un ...

where he was admitted to the

Pi Lambda Theta Pi Lambda Theta (ΠΛΘ) is one of three main education honor societies and professional associations for educators in the United States. Basic information Pi Lambda Theta is both an honor society and professional association for educators. As ...

. As a youth, Boyd earned the rank of

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

and was active in Scouting's National Honor Society, the

Order of the Arrow The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the honor society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives as elected by their peers. The society was created by E. Urner G ...

where he was recognized with the

Vigil Honor It is important to distinguish between ''awards,'' ''honors,'' and ''membership levels'' in the Order of the Arrow – the honor camping society of the Boy Scouts of America. The Founder's Award, the Red Arrow Award, and the Distinguished Serv ...

and the Distinguished Service Award.

Professional career

Boyd's career in education began at the Sterling Memorial School in

Oneco Oneco (sometimes called Owaneko) was a sachem of the Mohegans in the Connecticut Colony and the son of Uncas. During King Philip's War (1675–78) he distinguished himself as a battlefield commander and has been credited as one of the executioner ...

. In 2003, he joined the faculty of the

Rectory School The Rectory School is an independent, coeducational, junior boarding (5–9) and day school (K–9) in Pomfret, Connecticut. The school was founded by the Rev. Frank H. Bigelow in 1920. It has expanded to , 26 buildings, 250 students, and 65 facu ...

, teaching history, English, leadership and outdoor education. In 2006, he was appointed to the faculty of the

Pomfret School Pomfret School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States, serving 350 students in grades 9 through 12 and post-graduates. Located in the Pomfret Street Historic District, t ...

, an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school in Pomfret, where he currently serves as the dean of students and as a history/government teacher. Boyd serves as the summer camp director of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

June Norcross Webster Scout Reservation The headquarters of the Connecticut Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America is located in East Hartford, Connecticut. The present council was formed as the result of the merger between the Indian Trails Council of Norwich, Connecticut and Lon ...

in Ashford.

Public service career

He began his public service career serving on the Charter Revision Commission in Plainfield while a student at

. After moving to Pomfret he joined the Pomfret Volunteer Fire Department, later serving as the fire company president. He was elected by

town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

to the fire district board and appointed by the board of selectmen to serve as the deputy emergency management director for the town. In February 2016 he announced that he was seeking the Democratic nomination for an open house seat in the

. He was elected on November 8, 2016, with 55% of the vote, and took office on January 4, 2017. Boyd is a founding member of

Unite America Unite America (previously known as The Centrist Project) is an American grassroots organization founded by Charlie Wheelan with the goal of reforming the political system and bridging the partisan divide. Unite America supports both electoral pol ...

Electoral history

Legislative record

Speaker of the House

Joe Aresimowicz Joe Aresimowicz (born November 5, 1970) is a former American Democratic politician serving as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and former Speaker of the House. From 2013 to 2017, he served as Majority Leader. Early life, ed ...

appointed Boyd to serve on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Public Safety and Security Committee and as the vice-chair of the Committee on Children for the 2017–2019 session. Boyd is considered a member of the Centrist Wing of the House Democratic Caucus and campaigned openly as an

Independent Democrat In U.S. politics, an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (chooses to be an independent) or is denied the Democratic nomination i ...

. Early in the 2017 legislative session, Boyd was the only

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in the state house and senate to vote with the

Republicans 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 ...

against a deal that Governor

Dannel Malloy Dannel Patrick Malloy (; born July 21, 1955) is an American politician, who served as the 88th governor of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he chaired the Democratic Governors Association from 2016 to 2017. On July ...

struck with state employee unions to refinance pension costs.

References

External links

Legislative WebsiteBallotpedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Pat Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Living people 21st-century American politicians People from Pomfret, Connecticut People from Plainfield, Connecticut 1981 births