{{short description|American politician}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Peter Torkildsen | image = Peter G. Torkildsen congressional portrait T000314 200 (1).jpg | office1 = Chair of the [[Massachusetts Republican Party]] | term_start1 = 2007 | term_end1 = 2009 | predecessor1 = [[Darrell Crate]] | successor1 = [[Jennifer Nassour]] | state2 = [[Massachusetts]] | district2 = {{ushr|MA|6|6th}} | term_start2 = January 3, 1993 | term_end2 = January 3, 1997 | predecessor2 = [[Nicholas Mavroules]] | successor2 = [[John F. Tierney]] | state_house3 = Massachusetts | district3 = [[Massachusetts House of Representatives' 13th Essex district|13th Essex]] | term_start3 = January 2, 1985 | term_end3 = January 1, 1991 | predecessor3 = [[John E. Murphy Jr.]] | successor3 = [[Sally Kerans]] | birth_name = Peter Gerard Torkildsen | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|1|28}} | birth_place = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | spouse = Gail Torkildsen | education = [[University of Massachusetts, Amherst]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Public Administration|MPA]]) }} '''Peter Gerard Torkildsen''' (born January 28, 1958) is an American former politician. He represented the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives' 13th Essex district|13th Essex district]], including his hometown of [[Danvers, Massachusetts|Danvers]], in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991 and represented [[Massachusetts's 6th congressional district]], covering much of [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex County]], for two terms in the U.S. House from 1993 to 1997. Torkildsen also served as chair of the [[Massachusetts Republican Party]] from 2007 to 2009.
As of {{CURRENTYEAR}}, Torkildsen and colleague [[Peter Blute]] 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]] family with ten children in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]] on January 28, 1958. He attended high school at [[St. John's Preparatory School (Danvers, Massachusetts)|St. John's Preparatory School]] in [[Danvers, Massachusetts]], before obtaining his bachelor's degree from the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] and his MPA from the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]] at [[Harvard University]]. Before entering politics, he was a service coordinator for the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston.
==Massachusetts State House (1985–1991)== [[File:1989 Peter G. Torkildsen Essex district.jpg|thumb|x150px|official portrait, circa 1989]] Torkildsen served in the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] 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]] for the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1990 as an [[anti-abortion]] candidate. From 1991 to 1992, Torkildsen was the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industries.
==U.S. House of Representatives== [[File:1994 US House of Representatives Candidates (53316465415).jpg|thumb|Torkildsen (center) participating in a 1994 general election debate against Democratic nominee [[John F. Tierney]] (right) and independent candidate Ben Gatchell]] [[File:Torkildsen.jpg|thumb|congressional portrait]]
He then went on to represent {{ushr|Massachusetts|6|}} for two terms from 1993 until 1997. In Congress, he was conservative on defense spending and fiscal restraint, but was [[pro-choice]] 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]].
He was narrowly defeated in the [[1996 United States House election|presidential-year election of 1996]] by [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[John F. Tierney]] in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Democratic President [[Bill Clinton]] in that year's [[1996 United States presidential election|Presidential election]].
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]], 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 [[Massachusetts Republican Party]], 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]], Torkildsen was one of 23 former [[Republican Party (US)|Republican]] members of Congress to call for the [[second impeachment of Donald Trump|President Donald Trump to be impeached]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pogo.org/policy-letters/former-gop-lawmakers-put-country-over-party-and-impeach-president-trump |title=23 Former GOP Lawmakers: Put Country over Party and Impeach President Trump |work=Project On Government Oversight}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{CongBio|T000314}} *{{C-SPAN|26489}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{s-bef|before=[[Nicholas Mavroules]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Massachusetts|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Massachusetts's 6th congressional district]]|years=1993–1997}} {{s-aft|after=[[John F. Tierney]]}} |- {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=[[Darrell Crate]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[Massachusetts Republican Party]]|years=2007–2009}} {{s-aft|after=[[Jennifer Nassour]]}} |- {{s-prec|usa}} {{s-bef|before=[[Peter Blute]]|as=Former U.S. Representative}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States order of precedence|Order of precedence of the United States]]<br>''{{small|as Former U.S. Representative}}''|years=}} {{s-aft|after=[[Richard N. Swett]]|as=Former U.S. Representative}} {{s-end}}
{{USRepMA}} {{USCongRep-start |congresses=103rd–104th [[United States Congress]] |state=[[Massachusetts's congressional delegations|Massachusetts]]}} {{USCongRep/MA/103}} {{USCongRep/MA/104}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torkildsen, Peter G.}} [[Category:1958 births]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court]] [[Category:20th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:Catholics from Wisconsin]] [[Category:Harvard Kennedy School alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Massachusetts Republican Party chairs]] [[Category:Politicians from Milwaukee]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]] [[Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Massachusetts]] [[Category:St. John's Preparatory School (Massachusetts) alumni]] [[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni]]