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Peter Torkildsen | |
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| Chair of theMassachusetts Republican Party | |
| In office 2007–2009 | |
| Preceded by | Darrell Crate |
| Succeeded by | Jennifer Nassour |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's6th district | |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Nicholas Mavroules |
| Succeeded by | John F. Tierney |
| Member of theMassachusetts House of Representatives from the13th Essex district | |
| In office January 2, 1985 – January 1, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | John E. Murphy Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Sally Kerans |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Gerard Torkildsen (1958-01-28)January 28, 1958 (age 67) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Gail Torkildsen |
| Education | University of Massachusetts, Amherst (BA) Harvard University (MPA) |
Peter Gerard Torkildsen (born January 28, 1958) is an AmericanRepublican Party politician fromMassachusetts. He represented the13th Essex district, including his hometown ofDanvers, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991 and representedMassachusetts's 6th congressional district, covering much ofEssex County, for two terms in the U.S. House from 1993 to 1997. Torkildsen also served as chair of theMassachusetts Republican Party from 2007 to 2009.
As of 2025, Torkildsen and colleaguePeter Blute are most recent Republicans to be elected to the U.S. House from Massachusetts.
Torkildsen was born into aRoman Catholic family with ten children inMilwaukee, Wisconsin on January 28, 1958. He attended high school atSt. John's Preparatory School inDanvers, Massachusetts, before obtaining his bachelor's degree from theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst and his MPA from theJohn F. Kennedy School of Government atHarvard University. Before entering politics, he was a service coordinator for the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston.
Torkildsen served in theMassachusetts 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 SenatorPaul Cellucci for the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1990 as ananti-abortion candidate. From 1991 to 1992, Torkildsen was the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industries.
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He then went on to representMassachusetts's 6th congressional district for two terms from 1993 until 1997. In Congress, he was conservative on defense spending and fiscal restraint, but waspro-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 1996Defense of Marriage Act.
He was narrowly defeated in thepresidential-year election of 1996 byDemocratJohn F. Tierney in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Democratic PresidentBill Clinton in that year'sPresidential election.
Tierney was part of a net eight seat Democratic gain in the House elections that year. Torkildsen challenged Tierney to a rematch in theUnited States House election, 1998, but Tierney won that contest as well, 55%–43%. Since Torkildsen andPeter I. Blute left Congress in 1997, there have been no Republicans elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.
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 aMassachusetts 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 the2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Torkildsen was one of 23 formerRepublican members of Congress to call for thePresident Donald Trump to be impeached.[1]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 6th congressional district 1993–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theMassachusetts Republican Party 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
