Peter John Visclosky ( ; born August 13, 1949) is an American politician who served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the 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 Article One of th ...

for from 1985 until his retirement in 2021. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was the dean of the Indiana congressional delegation before his retirement in 2021. The District lies in

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed "The Region" after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of Northern Indiana, northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of th ...

, and includes most of the Indiana side of the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

. Redistricting passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2011 changed the district's boundaries, effective January 2013, to include all of Lake and Porter counties as well as the western and northwestern townships of LaPorte County, while shifting Benton, Newton, and Jasper counties out of the district. On November 6, 2019, Visclosky announced that he would not seek re-election in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Early life, education, and pre-congressional career

Visclosky was born in Gary, Indiana, the son of John and the late Helen (née Kauzlaric) Visclosky. He is of Croatian-Slovak descent. He was educated at Andrean High School in

Merrillville, Indiana Merrillville ( , ) is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,444 at the 2020 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville bec ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting at

Indiana University Northwest Indiana University Northwest (IU Northwest or IUN) is a public university in Gary, Indiana, United States. It is one of seven regional campuses of Indiana University and was established in 1963. The university enrolls approximately 3,500 degree ...

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

and went on to earn his

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. The school enrolls about 600 students and in addition to the J.D. ...

. At

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, Visclosky earned a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law. He worked as a lawyer and staff member of United States Representative Adam Benjamin before entering the House.

U.S. House of Representatives

Senator Richard Lugar and Congressman Pete Visclosky with Ashley Judd

Elections

In 1984, Visclosky ran for Congress in

Indiana's 1st congressional district Indiana's 1st congressional district is an List of United States congressional districts, electoral district for the United States Congress, U.S. Congress in Northwestern Indiana. The district is based in Gary, Indiana, Gary and its surrounding s ...

. In the Democratic primary, he defeated incumbent U.S. Congresswoman Katie Hall, Jack Crawford, and Sandra Smith 34%-33%-31%-1%. In the general election, he defeated Republican Joseph Grenchik 71%-29%. He was reelected 17 times from a district that has been in Democratic hands without interruption since 1931. In 1986, he won the Democratic primary again with 57%, defeating Hall and three other candidates. He won the general election with 73% of the vote. In 1988, he won the Democratic primary 84%-16% against Sandra Smith. He went on to win the general election with 77% of the vote. In 1990, Hall challenged Visclosky for the third time and was defeated 51%-30%. He won the general election with 66% of the vote. In 1992, he won the Democratic primary with 72% and the general election with 69%. In 1994, he won the Democratic primary with 77% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Republican John Larson 56%-44%. For the rest of his career, he never won a primary with less than 71% and he only once won a general election with less than 60% of the vote - in 2010, when Republicans re-took control of the House of Representatives.

Tenure

Visclosky is pro-union and anti-free trade. Reinstating the steel tariff, fighting against illegal actions known as "Steel Dumping", in which countries undercut American steel prices by subsidizing steel production, and/or producing steel through nationalized steel companies, which artificially manipulates the market price of steel produced in this manner, a violation of trade agreements, free markets, and certain international laws, and fighting to save American manufacturing jobs have long been priorities of Visclosky. He serves as Chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus when the Democrats have control of the House, and serves as Vice Chair when they don't. He is also a former Chair of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee and the current Ranking Member. Congressman Visclosky also opposed actions that would have certain components of advanced U.S. Military weapons and hardware made in foreign countries, most notably in China, which caused the closing of U.S.-based manufacturing centers, such as "Magnequench" in Valparaiso, Indiana, which was covered heavily in the media, most notably in printed media from his district, namely "The Times" and "The Post Tribune", both servicing Northwest Indiana. In this particular case, the component was a sophisticated, high-tech magnet, made of rare earth metals, that is an integral part of U.S. smart-bombs and guided missile systems, including the "Joint Direct Attack Munition" or "JDAM". Visclosky is one of the 126 Democrats who voted against the Iraq War Resolution. He is also a supporter of high tech solutions as a way to revive the American blue collar work force, and as a way to decrease crime. Visclocsky was a prime proponent of expanding

Gary/Chicago International Airport Gary/Chicago International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport in Gary, in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is three miles northwest of the city center of Gary, and southeast of the Chicago Loop. It is operated by the Ga ...

's runway, and played a role in the securing of $58 million in federal funding to do so in 2006.

Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline

During his tenure, one of Visclosky's focuses had been improving Indiana's

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

shoreline. In 1985, during his first term, Visclosky proposed the "Marquette Plan", which would have seen 75% of Northwest Indiana's industrial shoreline reclaimed for public uses. Two decades later, he revived the proposal in a revised form, as the "Marquette Greenway", which would have seen

bike trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Howe ...

s built along the lakefront. While the overall "Marquette Plan" has not been realized, a number of projects have reclaimed some of the industrial lakefront, such as the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. In 2019, Visclosky added a measure making

Indiana Dunes Indiana Dunes National Park is a national park of the United States located in northwestern Indiana managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and was redesignated as the ...

United States National Park The United States has 63 national parks, which are congressionally designated protected areas operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks are designated for their natural beauty, unique g ...

to an appropriations bill, which passed into law. Indiana Dunes thereby became the 61st National Park.

South Shore Line improvements

A large focus of Visclosky during his tenure was improving the

South Shore Line The South Shore Line is an electrically powered commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend Airport station in Sout ...

rail service. Visclosky managed to help secure federal funding for a number of improvements to the South Shore Line throughout his tenure, including funding for new overpasses and bridges. In his last term as a congressman, two major projects Visclosky had long advocated for to improve the South Shore Line,

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

ing on the existing main branch and the construction of the new

West Lake Corridor The West Lake Corridor project, to be called the Monon Corridor upon opening, is an under-construction commuter rail line in Lake County, Indiana. New South Shore Line services are planned to connect the towns of Munster and Dyer in Indiana ...

, received federal funding.

PMA Group investigation

The ''

Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D. ...

'' reported in March 2009 that Visclosky had received, over ten years, $1.36 million in campaign donations from clients of the PMA Group. In 2007 and 2008, the

United States House Committee on Appropriations The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Co ...

, of which Visclosky is a member, directed $137 million in government purchasing to PMA's clients. In May 2009, Visclosky received subpoenas in the

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

investigation into PMA Group, the first member of Congress to be subpoenaed in the investigation. The Congressman was later cleared of all charges by the

House Ethics Committee The U.S. House Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Before the 112th Congress, it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. ...

, who detailed in a 305-page report that "Simply because a member sponsors an earmark for an entity that also happens to be a campaign contributor does not, on these two facts alone, support a claim that a member's actions are being influenced by campaign contributions".

Steven V. Roberts Steven V. Roberts (born February 11, 1943) is an American journalist, writer, and political commentator. Life and career Roberts was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, and graduated from Bayonne High School.Rahman, Sarah"Author Steven V. Roberts pays a ...

and

Cokie Roberts Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019) was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS, ...

called the Visclosky/PMA/

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (also styled SNC) is an American aerospace, defense, electronics, engineering and manufacturing corporation that specializes in aircraft modification, integration and other space technologies. The corporation contracts ...

relationship "a bribe by any other name". In 2011, the House Ethics Committee ended its investigation, clearing Visclosky and Republican former Representative

Todd Tiahrt William Todd Tiahrt ( ; born June 15, 1951) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1995 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected as part of the historic Republican Wave of 1994, defeating 18-ye ...

of Kansas. While "PMA's lobbyists pushed or directed company executives to maximize personal or Political Action Committee (PAC) campaign contributions and to attend specific fundraisers while pursuing earmarks," the report notes, "the evidence did not show that Members or their official staff were included in discussions or correspondence about, coordinated with PMA on, or knew of these strategies."

Committee assignments

* Committee on Appropriations ** Subcommittee on Defense (Chair) ** Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

Caucus memberships

Congressional Steel Caucus The Congressional Steel Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of the United States Congress whose members represent regions with steel manufacturers or care about the health of the American steel industry. Caucus members will routinely meet with the curr ...

(Vice Chair) *Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues *Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans *Congressional Diabetes Caucus *Congressional Fire Services Caucus *Congressional Hellenic Caucus *Congressional Serbian Caucus *Great Lakes Task Force *Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children Caucus *Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition *Buy America Caucus *Dairy Farmers Caucus *French Caucus *Macedonian Caucus *National Parks Caucus *Slovak Caucus *Friends of Switzerland *Wine Caucus *Wire and Wire Products Caucus *Law Enforcement Caucus *

Congressional Arts Caucus The Congressional Arts Caucus is a registered Congressional Member Organization for the US House of Representatives in the 115th Congress. History The Congressional Arts Caucus was created in the 1980s as a way for the various members of Congr ...

* U.S.-Japan Caucus

Subsequent career

In January 2022, Indiana Governor

Eric Holcomb Eric Joseph Holcomb ( ; born May 2, 1968) is an American politician who served as the 51st governor of Indiana, from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2016 to 2017 as the 51st Lieuten ...

appointed Visclosky to serve as chairman of the Gary/Chicago Airport Authority.

Electoral history

, + : Results 1984–2018 ! Year ! ! Democratic ! Votes ! % ! ! Republican ! Votes ! % ! ! Third Party ! Party ! Votes ! % ! ! Third Party ! Party ! Votes ! % , - ,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 147,035 , , 71% , , , Joseph Grenchik , , 59,986 , , 29% , , , James Willis , ,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

, , 943 , , 0% , , , , , , - ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 86,983 , , 73% , , ,

William P. Costas William P. Costas (June 18, 1927 – July 23, 2013) was an American businessman and politician. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he started his business career as a food buyer in Gary, Indiana. He then owned and operated Costas Foods in Valparai ...

, , 30,395 , , 26% , , , James Willis , ,

, , 660 , , 1% , , ! style="background:#FF3300; ", Tracy Kyle , ! style="background:#FF3300; ", Workers League , ! style="background:#FF3300; ", 403 , ! style="background:#FF3300; ", 0% , - ,

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 138,251 , , 77% , , , Owen Crumpacker , , 41,076 , , 23% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 68,920 , , 66% , , ,

, , 35,450 , , 34% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 147,054 , , 69% , , , David Vucich , , 64,770 , , 31% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 68,612 , , 56% , , , John Larson , , 52,920 , , 44% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 133,553 , , 69% , , , Michael Petyo , , 56,418 , , 29% , , , Michael Crass , ,

, , 3,142 , , 2% , , , , , , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 92,634 , , 73% , , , Michael Petyo , , 33,503 , , 26% , , , Michael Crass , ,

, , 1,617 , , 1% , , , , , , - ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 148,683 , , 72% , , , Jack Reynolds , , 56,200 , , 27% , , , Christopher Nelson , ,

, , 2,907 , , 1% , , , , , , - ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 90,443 , , 67% , , , Mark Leyva , , 41,909 , , 31% , , , Timothy Brennan , ,

, , 2,759 , , 2% , , , , , , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 178,406 , , 68% , , , Mark Leyva , , 82,858 , , 32% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 104,195 , , 70% , , , Mark Leyva , , 40,146 , , 27% , , , Charles Barman , ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, , 5,266 , , 4% , , , , , , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 199,954 , , 71% , , , Mark Leyva , , 76,647 , , 27% , , , Timothy Brennan , ,

, , 5,421 , , 2% , , , , , , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 99,387 , , 59% , , , Mark Leyva , , 65,558 , , 39% , , , Jon Morris , ,

, , 4,762 , , 3% , , , , , , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 187,743 , , 67% , , , Joel Phelps , , 91,291 , , 33% , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 86,579 , , 61% , , , Mark Leyva , , 51,000 , , 36% , , , Donna Dunn , ,

, , 4,714 , , 3% , , , , , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 207,515 , , 82% , , , , , , , Donna Dunn , ,

, , 47,051 , , 18% , , , John Meyer , ,

, , 17 , , 0% , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , , Pete Visclosky , , 159,611 , , 65% , , , Mark Leyva , , 85,594 , , 35% , , , , , , , , , ,

Personal life

Visclosky is 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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Visclosky, Pete 1949 births Living people American people of Croatian descent American people of Slovak descent Catholics from Indiana Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana Georgetown University Law Center alumni Indiana University Northwest alumni Notre Dame Law School alumni People from Merrillville, Indiana Politicians from Gary, Indiana 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives