Robert M. Ward (November 2, 1952 – May 9, 2021) was an American politician who served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 2007, and as the minority leader from 1995 to 2007, as a member of the Republican Party.

He entered politics when he worked as an intern for state legislator Herbert V. Camp Jr. and later became a member of the North Branford Republican Town Committee.

[10][11][12] In 1986, Ward won renomination by the Republican Party with a unanimous vote at the convention and defeated Democratic nominee Joan Fitch in the general election.

[18][19][20] Ward defeated the Democratic and A Connecticut Party nominee Colin D. Johnson in the 1992 election.

[28] Ward announced that he would not seek reelection to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 2006, and was succeeded by Republican Vincent Candelora.

[36] Ward endorsed United States Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole for president during the 1988 Republican presidential primary.

[40] In 1999, Governor John G. Rowland endorsed Governor George W. Bush for president and fifty out of fifty-three Republicans in the state house, including Ward, and fourteen out of seventeen Republicans in the state senate sent a letter urging Bush to run for president.

[41] Ward and Chris DePino, the Chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, led a five-member delegation to Texas to urge Bush to run for president.

[48] Rowland announced his resignation on June 22, which took effect on July 1, after the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled five to two against him in a case regarding the state house impeachment committee's authority to compel his testimony.

[4] Ward was awarded "Leader of the Year" in 1997, by the National Republican Legislators Association after being nominated by Lieutenant Governor Jodi Rell.

[4][51] Ward served as co-chair of a task force alongside Commissioner of Connecticut Department of Public Health Robert Galvin in 2007, that looked into ways to make teenagers drive more safely.

After the kidney failed Ward started using home dialysis and died on May 9, 2021, in North Branford, Connecticut.

[57] In 1991, the state house voted 84 to 62, with Ward against, against an amendment favored by Governor Lowell Weicker, which would have banned charitable Las Vegas nights which would have prohibited the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe from opening a casino.

[60] Ward attempted to raise the age of consent from fifteen to seventeen in 1984, but his legislation failed in a voice vote.

However, another bill by Ward to raise the age of consent from fifteen to sixteen was passed by a vote of 125 to 21 in the state house.