Peter Gerard Torkildsen (born January 28, 1958) is an American Republican Party politician from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. He represented the 13th Essex district, including his hometown of Danvers, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991 and represented

Massachusetts's 6th congressional district Massachusetts's 6th congressional district is located in northeastern Massachusetts. It contains almost all of Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, including the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore and Cape Ann and excluding the Merrim ...

, covering much of Essex County, for two terms in the U.S. House from 1993 to 1997. Torkildsen also served as chair of the

Massachusetts Republican Party The Massachusetts Republican Party (MassGOP) is the Massachusetts branch of the U.S. Republican Party. Originally, the party was formed in 1854. Soon after its founding, the party quickly became the dominant party in the state with Massachuse ...

from 2007 to 2009. As of , Torkildsen and colleague

Peter Blute Peter Ignatius Blute (born January 28, 1956) is an American former politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. He served two terms, between January 3, 1993, and Ja ...

are most recent Republicans to be elected to the U.S. House from Massachusetts.

Early life and career

Torkildsen was born into a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family with ten children in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

on January 28, 1958. He attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School in

Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the beach ...

and then college at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

and then went on to the prestigious

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Before entering politics, he was a service coordinator for the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston.

Massachusetts State House (1985–1991)

Torkildsen served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

from 1985 to 1991. He had a conservative record on fiscal and social issues during his terms in the Massachusetts House and challenged State Senator

Paul Cellucci Argeo Paul Cellucci (; April 24, 1948 – June 8, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 69th governor of Massachusetts from 1997 to 2001 and as the United States Ambassador to ...

for the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1990 as an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

candidate. From 1991 to 1992, Torkildsen was the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industries.

U.S. House of Representatives

He then went on to represent for two terms from 1993 until 1997. In Congress, he was conservative on defense spending and fiscal restraint, but was

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

on abortion, in particular voting against the 1996 Partial Birth Abortion Ban. During his campaign for Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party in 2007, he claimed that he had a problem with the wording of the bill as it excluded an exception for saving the mother's life, and had he been re-elected would have supported a similar bill with the exception. He also supported the 1996

Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limitin ...

. He was narrowly defeated in the presidential-year election of 1996 by

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

John F. Tierney John F. Tierney (born September 18, 1951) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1997 to 2015. He is a Democrat who represented the state's , which includes the state's North Shore and Cape An ...

in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Democratic President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in that year's

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. Tierney was part of a net eight seat Democratic gain in the House elections that year. Torkildsen challenged Tierney to a rematch in the

United States House election, 1998 The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 3, 1998, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 106th United States Congress. They were part of the midterm elections held during President Bill Clinton's s ...

, but Tierney won that contest as well, 55%–43%. Since Torkildsen and Peter I. Blute left Congress in 1997, there have been no Republicans elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

Post-congressional career

Since leaving the House, Torkildsen has returned to working in labor and workforce related areas. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a commissioner on the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission. In 2003, he was the Director of Federal, State and Local Workforce Relations for the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development. Since 2004, he has been the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board. Desiring to lead the repair of a

, Torkildsen announced in December 2006 that he would run in the January 2007 election for State Party Chairman. Torkildsen left the Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board with Gov. Deval Patrick's inauguration. On January 17, 2007, Torkildsen defeated five opponents in his first ballot election to be chair of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee. Torkildsen received 58% of the vote. In January, 2009, Torkildsen chose not to run for re-election as Chair. After the

2021 storming of the United States Capitol On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months after his defea ...

, Torkildsen was one of 23 former Republican members of Congress to call for the President Donald Trump to be impeached.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Torkildsen, Peter G. 1958 births Living people Politicians from Milwaukee Harvard Kennedy School alumni Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts Republican Party chairs University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Catholics from Wisconsin St. John's Preparatory School (Massachusetts) alumni 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives