The Party

Connie Brennan
House District 59

Nelson County Supervisor, Connie Brennan, is making her first run for the House of Delegates. She is a retired nurse practitioner, has served as chair of the Nelson County School Board and is the first woman to sit on the Board of Supervisors in Nelson County.

After finishing high school in Alexandria, VA, Brennan graduated from the UVA School Of Nursing and from VCU, becoming one of the earliest nurse practitioners in the state. Her field of specialty is women's health care, and she proudly worked at UVA Student Health for 28 years.

After her husband's tours with the U.S. Foreign Service, she decided to settle in Nelson County to raise a family. Brennan lives in Faber with her husband John Hesselbart. She is the mother of three and has one adorable grandson.

Brennan has been active in Nelson since she returned to raise her family. She joined the Rescue Squad as a first responder, was a member of the PTA and PTO and numerous school committees, and a founding member of The Nelson County Historical Society.

In the early 1980's, she co-founded the Women's Health Center in Charlottesville, a nonprofit organization, which provided affordable and accessible health care to women throughout central Virginia.

In 2001, she ran for a seat on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors and won handily in a three-way race. She was re-elected in November 2005. She has served as the Board's Chair and has organized several important committees, including a Seniors' Issues Committee, an AG-Forestal District Committee, and a committee to study the community's dental care.

She also represents Nelson as Vice Chair of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and was recently appointed to the Thomas Jefferson Community Criminal Justice Board. She is also a member of the Workforce Network Council.

Brennan was elected to represent Nelson and six other counties on the Virginia Association of Counties Board of Directors, and serves as Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. She is a founding member of the Rural Caucus. With the increasing urbanization of our state, she is particularly keen on making sure rural issues do not go unrecognized or unappreciated.

In addition, she has served as a member of the Wintergreen Performing Arts Association Board of Directors, the Nelson County Historical Society, the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, Friends of the Rockfish Watershed, the local Democratic Committee, NAACP and the Voters' League, and she is a volunteer at the local Food Pantry.

During the 2005 gubernatorial campaign, she served as a member of Tim Kaine's Health Policy Task Force. She joined the governor-elect's Health and Human Services Policy Group, and was member of the Governor's Transition Team. The governor also appointed her to the Virginia Geographic Information System Advisory Board.
She is a 2005 graduate of the Sorensen Institute's Program for Political Leaders.


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