Susan Bysiewicz ’83, Connecticut’s secretary of the state for over a decade, moved to put the 2010 election debacle behind her Tuesday, announcing she would run for the seat occupied by independent Sen. Joe Lieberman’s ’64 LAW ’67 in the 2012 Senate election.

Just after Bysiewicz’s announcement came another from Lieberman that he would be holding a press conference on his political future tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. in Stamford. The embattled Lieberman, whose victory in the 2006 election came after a loss in that year’s Democratic primary to businessman Ned Lamont, is expected to announce he will not seek re-election, Politico reported Tuesday afternoon:

“After many thoughtful conversations with family and friends over the last several months, Sen. Lieberman made a decision about his future over the holidays which he plans to announce on Wednesday,” Erika Masonhall, a Lieberman spokeswoman, told Politico.

Bysiewicz’ decision to run comes after a difficult 2010 for the politician. Her original plan was to run for governor. Despite polls showing her as a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination eventually won by current Gov. Dan Malloy, she dropped out of the race to run for state attorney general. Those plans came to a screeching halt, though, when the state Supreme Court ruled her ineligible to serve as attorney general because the law requires that the attorney general practice law for 10 years, and she had only practice for six.

On Election Day balloting problems across the state required courts to extend polling hours in several jurisdictions, including Bridgeport. And in the days following the election, as the governor’s race between Malloy and Republican Tom Foley remained up in the air, Bysiewicz drew criticism for announcing Malloy had won when many ballot counts showed Foley in the lead.

Bysiewicz entered joined the state legislature in 1992 at the age of 31, her first stint as an elected official. She became secretary of the state in 1999.