Peter Welch is the junior United States Senator from Vermont, having served in the Senate since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1947 and graduated from College of the Holy Cross and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Before his Senate career, Welch served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives and then as Vermont's sole U.S. Representative from 2007 to 2023, where he built a record as a progressive Democrat focused on healthcare and energy. He was elected to the Senate in 2022 to fill the seat vacated by Patrick Leahy's retirement.
In the Senate, Welch sits on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. He has focused on drug pricing, rural broadband access, agricultural policy, and climate change. His long experience in the House, including work on healthcare and energy legislation, and his background representing a small, rural state inform his Senate legislative priorities.