34 Facts About Peter Welch

Peter Francis Welch was born on May 2,1947 and is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2023.

Peter Welch has been a major figure in Vermont politics for over four decades, and is only the second Democrat to be elected a US senator from the state.

Peter Welch was the Senate's president pro tempore from 1985 to 1989, the first Democrat to hold the position.

Peter Welch was the Democratic nominee for governor of Vermont in 1990, losing the general election to Republican Richard A Snelling.

Peter Welch continued to practice law and returned to politics in 2001, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Vermont Senate.

Peter Welch was re-elected in 2002 and 2004 and served as Senate president from 2003 to 2007.

In 2006, Peter Welch was elected to the US House of Representatives, succeeding Bernie Sanders, who was elected to the United States Senate.

In November 2021, Peter Welch announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2022 United States Senate election in Vermont to succeed retiring Senator Patrick Leahy.

On November 8,2022, Peter Welch won the general election, defeating Republican nominee Gerald Malloy.

Peter Welch was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1947, where he attended local Catholic schools.

Peter Welch "worked with low-income people on Chicago's West Side in the late 1960s" as a community organizer.

Peter Welch worked for an organization that was affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and its activities included attendance at an SCLC national convention in Atlanta.

Peter Welch worked for Lloyd Cutler, who later served as White House Counsel during the administrations of presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, at a Washington law firm.

Peter Welch served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Black of the Vermont Superior Court.

Peter Welch worked for several years as a public defender for low-income clients in Windsor County and Orange County.

In 1980, Peter Welch was elected to the Vermont Senate from Windsor County.

Peter Welch was the first Democrat to serve as Vermont's senate president, since Vermont was a bastion for the Whigs and then the Republicans for more than 100 years beginning in the 1830s.

In 1988, Peter Welch left the Vermont Senate to make an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives.

In 1990, Peter Welch won the Democratic nomination for governor of Vermont but lost the general election to Republican Richard Snelling.

Peter Welch did not run for another office for more than a decade; in 2001, Governor Howard Dean appointed him to fill a vacant Vermont Senate seat in Windsor County.

Peter Welch was elected to the seat in 2002 and reelected in 2004, again serving as president pro tempore.

When Vermont's US Representative, Bernie Sanders, ran for the US Senate in 2006, Peter Welch chose to run for Sanders's seat.

Peter Welch was the first Democrat to represent Vermont in the House since 1961, and only the second since 1853.

Peter Welch was re-elected in 2008 with no major-party opposition, becoming the first Democrat to be reelected to the House from Vermont since 1848.

Peter Welch was in the unusual position of being both the Democratic and Republican nominee for the seat, due to Republican voters writing his name in on the blank primary ballot.

Peter Welch said that ending the Iraq War was a top priority, and impeachment would distract Congress from addressing that outcome.

Peter Welch worked with former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on a bill to increase funding at the National Institutes of Health for pediatric research and with Representative Paul Ryan to reverse proposed regulations that would have banned the use of wooden shelves for ageing cheese wheels.

Peter Welch bucked his party leadership by voting against arming and training Syrian rebels and opposes "boots on the ground" in dealing with ISIL.

Peter Welch believes climate change is a "glaring problem", opposed travel bans in response to the Ebola epidemic and supports immigration reform that addresses border concerns but does not close them.

On February 19,2016, Peter Welch endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for president.

Peter Welch won the Democratic primary by a large margin, and defeated Republican nominee Gerald Malloy in the general election.

Peter Welch participated in the 2016 United States House of Representatives sit-in to support gun control.

Peter Welch is married to Margaret Cheney, a former member of the Vermont House of Representatives who was appointed to the Vermont Public Service Board in 2013.

Peter Welch has five stepchildren from his first marriage and three from his second.