Christopher John "Chris" Dodd is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician serving as the senior U.S. Senator from Connecticut. Dodd is a Connecticut native and a graduate of Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, and Providence College. He was elected United States Senator in the elections of 1980, and is now the longest-serving Senator in Connecticut's history, the 9th most senior of current Senators and one of three from the 1980 freshman class who is still serving. In January 2010 Dodd announced that he would not run for re-election in the 2010 midterm elections.