She was born on October 6, 1945, in
Brooklyn, New York City, and raised in
Maplewood, New Jersey. She attended high school in
Elizabeth, New Jersey, and after her graduation, she attended the
Saint Elizabeth University where she received a
B.S. in nutrition in 1967. She then did a one-year internship at
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital to become a licensed dietitian. She then stayed on at the hospital for an additional year. She married and was widowed. She served on the town environmental commission, Connelly served as a
councilwoman in Fanwood before her 1995 election as mayor. In the
United States House of Representatives elections, 1998, she challenged Congressman
Bob Franks in his bid for a fourth term, running as a pro-choice Democrat. She received 44% of the vote in her challenge to Franks. In 1999 she did not seek a second term as mayor, saying that she was focusing on her
2000 bid for Congress. Democratic Party leaders originally backed Connelly in her 2000 Congressional bid, until in September 1999, when Franks announced his candidacy for New Jersey's vacant
U.S. Senate seat. Franks became a Senate candidate after Gov.
Christine Todd Whitman announced she would not seek the Senate seat. Democratic Party leaders, no longer considering Franks' seat to be unwinnable, decided to support
Union County Manager
Michael Lapolla for Congress instead of Connelly. Following this decision, Connelly did not bow out of the Congressional race as party leaders suggested. She continued her campaign and defeated Lapolla in the primary.
The New York Times endorsed her candidacy writing "Ms. Connelly has a solid record of public service in Fanwood, and she would be a steady voice against
Social Security privatization and the anti-abortion forces in Congress that her opponent would join." In the
United States House of Representatives elections, 2000, Connelly faced Republican
Mike Ferguson, who had defeated
Tom Kean Jr., Assemblyman
Joel Weingarten, and Patrick Morrissey in the Republican Party primary. It became one of the top three races in the election cycle. Her campaign was marred when
The Star-Ledger – a newspaper that endorsed Connelly in its
ex cathedra campaign editorial – ran an opinion piece that denounced her attacks on Ferguson. The commentary said she was a contender to being "New Jersey's sleaziest candidate." The Ferguson campaign attacked Connolly by calling her the mayor of "Taxwood" in campaign ads. The race was among the handful selected by the National Republican Committee to receive national Party support. Connelly attempted to make an issue out of an illegal loan Ferguson's campaign received from his parents in 2000, but the issue failed to gain "traction" with voters; after review by the
Federal Election Commission and adjudication, Ferguson paid a large civil fine using money from his campaign fund. Democratic State Committee Chairman Thomas Giblin asserted it was the illegal loan that enabled Ferguson to win. Ferguson defeated Connelly; she received 48% of the vote. Connelly was recognized by the
National Organization for Women with a
NOW Woman of Courage Award for the race in 2001 for her "uphill struggle to have a woman taken seriously as a legitimate candidate in a highly contested race". ==References==