In January 2009, Donovan became the first graduate of the grass-roots organizing movement to become speaker of the House, one of the ultimate insider jobs in Connecticut politics. He also was an organizer for the Service Employees International Union and the Connecticut Citizen Action Group.He and Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, each faced a new dynamic in 2011 as they dealt with a Democratic governor for the first time in their careers. Donovan and Williams backed Ned Lamont in the primary over the man who became the first Democrat to win a gubernatorial election in 24 years, Dannel P. Malloy.After losing 14 seats in the 2010 election, Democrats were set to begin the 2011 session holding 100 of the 151 seats in the House. But six Democrats resigned to take jobs elsewhere in government, and Democrats ended up with a 99-52 advantage after special elections on Feb. 22. Donovan has solid control over the agenda of the chamber.Donovan was a leading proponent of a health-care pooling bill that passed in 2009, only to be vetoed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Donovan had the votes to override in the House, but the veto was sustained in the Senate. One early test of his relationship with Malloy was expected to be over how the governor receives a revived pooling bill.Donovan is a supporter of the Citizen's Election Program, which provides public financing of campaigns. With Donovan's blessing, the legislature upped the general-election grant for governor from $3 million to $6 million to offset a court decision that froze the state's ability to give supplemental funds to offset a wealthy opponent.He has backed minimum-wage increases and the effort to make Connecticut the first state in the nation to require that private companies provide paid sick days, which passed in 2011 with the encouragment of Malloy.Donovan stumbled in his first days as speaker. He appointed his predecessor, James A. Amann, to a $120,000-a-year job as his adviser, which was rescinded in the face of an outcry from within his own caucus. He was re-elected to a second term as speaker without opposition in November 2010.His first year with a Democratic governor has presented challenges, as Malloy has sought concessions from labor and proposed tax increases that hit the middle class harder than Donovan, who favors a more progressive tax structure, would have preferred.Under Donovan, the House refused to grant Malloy the unfetted authority he sought in July 2011 to cut the budget in response the failure of a concession deal. But, overall, he and the new governor have kept their relationship productive and publicly cordial, an asset to Donovan as he tries to step up politically.He is seeking the Democratic nominating for Congress in the 5th District in 2012, when he will have to defend a $1.5 billion tax increase proposed by Malloy and passed by the Democratic legislature.His campaign was rocked by the FBI's arrest of his chief fundraiser.He is married and the father of two.