[0]Peter Welch, Vermont's lone Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, has had a distinguished career as a legislative leader, lawyer, and advocate for the underrepresented. His record of accomplishment reflects his commitment to bringing people together to find real solutions to the difficult challenges we face and making government work for all citizens. Peter was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1947 into a family of six children. He attended Holy Name Grammar School and Cathedral High School, where he played on the city championship basketball team and received the Scholar Athlete award upon graduation. After high school, Peter attended Holy Cross College. He graduated magna cum laude in 1969, after taking time off in his junior year to work with a Jesuit-led community organization in Chicago fighting racial discrimination in housing. He was then selected by the RFK Foundation and the Kennedy family to be in the first class of Robert F. Kennedy Fellows. That award enabled Peter to continue working in Chicago to help families overcome discriminatory housing policies and buy their own homes. [0]Many of Peter's political ideals were shaped by his work in Chicago, where he witnessed firsthand the effects of racial prejudice and learned that people working together can bring about needed changes. He had the opportunity to hear the preachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as the civil rights leader's initial announcement of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Dr. King's political courage and resolute commitment to nonviolence have had long-lasting effects on Peter's beliefs and work. After his year as a Kennedy Fellow in Chicago, Peter enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked in public interest law. After graduation he embarked on a six-month journey through Latin America, during which he gained an understanding of the effects of U.S. foreign policy on underdeveloped countries. He backpacked the length of the Pan American Highway to Santiago, Chile, arriving just as President Salvador Allende was being overthrown. He then traveled to Salvador, Brazil, where he took a job on a freighter bound for Lisbon, Portugal. Upon his return to the United States, Peter rejected an offer from a Wall Street law firm and settled in Vermont to practice law with the firm of Black and Plante in White River Junction. [0]Peter is now a partner in the firm of Welch, Graham & Manby, Windsor County's longest continuously run legal practice. During his career in law, Peter has performed a substantial amount of pro bono work, representing such clients as women denied insurance coverage for cancer treatment and employees whose health-care benefits were taken away. For his efforts in public service, Peter received the President's Award from the Vermont Trial Lawyers' Association. In 1980 Peter turned to electoral politics, becoming only the second Democrat ever elected to represent Windsor County in the Vermont State Senate, in a year dominated by the Reagan Republican landslide. When he was reelected in 1982, Democrats chose Peter to be their Minority Leader. He undertook the task of recruiting Democratic candidates for the Senate from around the state, and in 1984 Vermonters elected a Democratic majority for the first time in history. In 1985 Peter was unanimously elected by his colleagues to serve as President Pro Tem of the Vermont Senate, becoming the first Democrat to hold this leadership position. He was reelected President Pro Tem in 1987. During Peter's tenure in the Senate from 1981 to 1988, he spearheaded legislative reforms in environment, tax, and education policy. Among his top accomplishments was his major role in the establishment of the Housing and Land Conservation Trust Fund, which has financed the construction of hundreds of units of affordable housing and the conservation of thousands of acres of Vermont farm and forest land.

In 1988 Peter finished a close second in a four-way Democratic primary for Vermont's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Two years later he was the state's Democratic candidate for governor, losing a close race against the popular Richard Snelling. During the 1990s Peter left electoral politics but remained influential behind the scenes. He was a key supporter of Howard Dean during his final gubernatorial election and an early adviser to his presidential campaign. Peter returned to the Vermont Senate in 2001, when he was appointed by Governor Dean to fill an open seat in Windsor County. Peter was elected in his own right in 2002, and his colleagues again unanimously elected him President Pro Tem, a position he holds today. As Senate leader, Peter has worked with colleagues from all political parties and is known for listening to diverse points of view. Peter has worked to balance budgets, to resolve an $80 million Medicaid deficit largely caused by the federal government, and to alleviate the property tax burden on working Vermonters. He has backed proposals to make prescription drugs more affordable, to make health care more accessible, and to control the explosive growth in health-care costs. Peter has also been a persistent advocate for protecting Vermont's environment, which he considers not only a moral imperative, but a practical necessity in a state with an economy tied so closely to our mountains, farm fields, forests, waterways and wildlife. [0]In 1976 Peter married Joan Smith, then a professor at Dartmouth College. Joan later moved to the University of Vermont, where she served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1995 until her death from cancer in 2004. Joan was closely involved in Peter's political life, managing all of his previous campaigns. Three of their five children, Beth, Mary, and Bill, live in Burlington, while John and Michael live in New York City and Washington, D.C., respectively. Peter and his dog, Pepper, are often seen running on the back roads and Green Mountains of Vermont.
To read more about Peter, check out this feature story in Seven Days [0] or Peter's announcement speech [0].