HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill will leave office six months before her third term ends, telling The Associated Press she is resigning Thursday, effective at noon, to spend more time with her husband, who is facing serious health problems.
The veteran Democrat, who was first elected as the state’s top elections official in 2010 after serving 17 years in the Connecticut General Assembly, said that it was a hard decision, considering this is an election year, and that she feels responsible for making sure it runs smoothly. However, Merrill, 73, said she can no longer juggle the job and helping care for her husband.
“It’s too much for me. I can’t do both, and I have to be at home,” she said during an interview Tuesday in her office, where she was packing up old photos of her days in the legislature. “I don’t have full-time caretakers, and it wouldn’t work, anyway. He’s very dependent on me, and I’m dependent on him in a lot of ways.”
Merrill’s husband, Dr. Stephen Leach, 78, has been living with Parkinson’s disease for years and has been dealing with various health setbacks more recently, she said.
The two, who live in Storrs, have been a couple for about two decades.