Martin Looney, a Democrat from New Haven, has been the Senate president pro tem since 2015, the top leadership post of the Senate. He has control over committee assignments for the Democratic majority and what bills are called for floor votes. He is an ally of the labor movement and advocate of a progressive tax structure who voted for the state income tax in 1991 as a member of the House. He previously was Senate majority leader.

He is one of the longest-serving members of the General Assembly, elected to the House for the first of six terms in 1980. He was elected to the Senate in 1992.

Looney earned his B.A. in English and Theology from Fairfield University in 1970. He went on to receive his M.A. in English from the University of Connecticut in 1972. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1985.

Looney worked as a Practitioner in Residence for the Department of Public Safety and Criminal Justice Program at the University of New Haven. He was a Public Information Aide for the City of New Haven from 1976 to 1980. He has been an attorney for Keyes, Looney, and Murphy from 1985 to the present. He has also been Adjunct Faculty for the University of New Haven since 1998 and for Quinnipiac College since 2001.