Jonathan W. Pelto is an American politician from the state of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with each ...

Political career

Pelto began working in politics by stuffing envelopes for

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

's 1972 presidential campaign at the age of 11. In 1980, at the age of 18, Pelto managed field operations for Sam Gejdenson's successful election to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. In 1984, he worked as the Connecticut campaign chair for

Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations, until in 1988, he dropped out amid revelations of ex ...

's presidential campaign, helping Hart defeat eventual nominee

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928April 19, 2021) was the 42nd vice president of the United States serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976. ...

in the Connecticut

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

. That year, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives. He served as the Connecticut Democratic Party political director in 1990. He opted not to run for reelection in 1994, retiring to the private sector. He resigned from the State House in September 1993. He opened a

consulting firm A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad ra ...

, called Impact Strategies Inc., when he left the state legislature. Unhappy with the tenure of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Dannel Malloy Dannel Patrick Malloy (; born July 21, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 88th governor of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he chaired the Democratic Governors Association from 2016 to 2017. In Ju ...

, Johnathan Pelto and his running mate took the needed steps to be legitimate "Write-In" candidate for governor. They had a number of interviews and blog postings during the campaign, but they did not get the needed signatures to receive an official placement on the ballot. In the end, Pelto received 568 votes of the 1,081,317 cast for Governor. Malloy received 554,314, while Foley received 526,295. Write-in candidates Daniel R Gait running mate Jason D Smith received 108 votes, while two other teams received 32 votes combined. In 2016, Pelto has been nominated and is running for Representative in U.S. Congress representing Connecticut for the Green Party, competing against Joe Courtney (D), Daria Novak (R), and Daniel Reale (L).

Personal life

Pelto and his wife, Nicole, have two daughters named Mara and Aliza. He also teaches at Quinnipiac University.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelto, Jonathan Living people Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly