About Peter
Early Life and Legal Career
Senator Peter Welch has spent his life working to improve the lives of folks who too often get left behind. Peter was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Edward and Mary Welch, a dentist and a homemaker. Peter observed from a young age that his father treated folks in the nearby jail the same way he treated the priests and nuns. His mother raised Peter and his siblings while helping keep the books of his father’s business.
Peter attended College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Before he finished his degree, Peter left school to hitchhike to Chicago and organize against housing discrimination in 1969. After returning to school and completing his degree, he attended and received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973. After law school, Peter settled in White River Junction, Vermont, becoming one of the county’s first public defenders for low-income folks. He then founded a small law practice, winning high profile cases to restore retirement benefits for workers, protect property rights for the elderly, and more.
The People’s Advocate: Vermont Politics
He was first elected to the Vermont State Senate in 1980. Within five years, he was unanimously elected by his colleagues to lead the chamber, becoming the first Democrat in Vermont history to hold the position of President Pro Tempore.
In 2006, Peter ran and won Vermont’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in a race that received national attention as the only contested congressional race in the country where both candidates refused to air negative ads. Peter has worked throughout his career both to defend progressive values and also to find bipartisan compromises. He approaches his work in the Capitol the same way Vermonters do back home, focusing on getting the job done and not on getting the credit.
Championing the People: A New Chapter in the Senate
In the House, Peter worked across the aisle to lower costs for working families. He’s led on legislation to advance green technologies, bring down the cost of prescription drugs, expand broadband and telemedicine in rural America, and more.
After Senator Patrick Leahy decided to retire after more than four decades of service in 2022, Peter ran in and won the election to become Vermont’s next Senator. In this new role, he’s continued his work to lower costs for working families, combat the impacts of climate change, and invest in rural America.
When he’s not working, Peter (as he’s known by his constituents) can be found hiking and skiing around Vermont with his wife Margaret and enjoying the Green Mountain State’s uniquely beautiful nature.
