She served as a member of the Connecticut State Senate from 2011 to 2019, representing the 5th district, which includes part of Bloomfield, most of Farmington, all of Burlington and all of West Hartford.

In 2013, Bye completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett Foundation LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.In 2023 she completed a 3 year Salzburg Global Seminar fellowship for international education leaders.

Bye was the director at both the Trinity College Community Child Center and the University of St. Joseph School for Young Children, which was named the State of Connecticut model pre-school.

She worked with Students 4 a Dream and legislators from both sides of the aisle to pass both in state tuition and financial aid for undocumented immigrants.

As Chair of Higher Education, she brought out the Governor's Bill to establish Bioscience CT in Farmington and prevailed in a long, 8 hour debate.

Working with Sen. President Don Williams, Sen. Bye led an effort to establish Smart Start, a state and local program to add 600 preschool spaces in towns with Title 1 Schools.

As of 2018, Bye was one of two openly gay members of the Connecticut General Assembly, serving alongside Rep. Jeffrey Currey (D-East Hartford).