Peter Welch

Democrat · VT · U.S. Senate

Bio

Peter Francis Welch is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district from 2007 to 2023. He has been a major figure in Vermont politics for over four decades and is only the second Democrat to represent Vermont in the Senate, after his predecessor, Patrick Leahy.

Full bio on Wikipedia →

Record of service

In office: 19.7 years
Chambers: House 16y, Senate 3.7y
First took office: 2007 (9 terms)
Seniority: 29 of 100 by time served
Age: 79
Senate class: 3 · junior senator

District offices

Burlington, VT · 802-863-2525

FEC filings ↗OpenSecrets ↗GovTrack ↗C-SPAN ↗Ballotpedia ↗Vote Smart ↗House History ↗Facebook ↗Instagram ↗X/Twitter ↗YouTube ↗

Service history, offices and identifiers from unitedstates/congress-legislators (public domain). Years served sum each term rather than subtracting the first start date, so a break in service is not counted as time in office.

Reported net worth

2019

$6.2M

2020

$6.6M

2021

$9.2M

Most recent filing (2021)

Assets: $5.4M – $13.4M
Liabilities: $100k – $250k
Net worth: $5.2M – $13.3M
Since 2019: +$3.0M

Largest holdings in the 2021 filing · 139 assets reported

Charles Schwab - Brokerage ⇒ Charles Schwab Value Advantage Money Market$250k – $500k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ SPDR Real Estate Select Sector (XLRE)$250k – $500k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ Fidelity Capital & Income Fund (FAGIX)$250k – $500k

Vanguard - Brokerage ⇒ Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)$250k – $500k

American Century ⇒ American Century International Growth Fund (TWIEX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Fidelity Contrafund Fund (FCNTX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Fidelity Convertible Securities Fund (FCVSX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Invesco Oppenheimer Global Opportunities Fund (OPGIX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ iShares Inc. iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Select SPDR Materials (XLB)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ SPDR Select Sector Fund - Utilities (XLU)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ VanEck Vectors Fallen Angel High Yield Bond (ANGL)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Vanguard Global Capital Cycles Fund (VGPMX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ)$100k – $250k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF (VIOV)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ Fidelity Government Cash Reserves (FDRXX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ Fidelity Growth Company (FDGRX)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ iShares Inc iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF (EWT)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ iShares Inc. iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ Vanguard Whitehall FDS High Div Yield (VYM)$100k – $250k

Fidelity Brokerage #2 ⇒ Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)$100k – $250k

Spinnaker Trust - Brokerage ⇒ iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF (ESGD)$100k – $250k

Spinnaker Trust - Brokerage ⇒ iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF (SUSA)$100k – $250k

Spinnaker Trust - Brokerage ⇒ Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK)$100k – $250k

TD Ameritrade - Brokerage ⇒ Select SPDR Technology (XLK)$100k – $250k

TD Ameritrade - Brokerage ⇒ VanEck Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (MORT)$100k – $250k

Vanguard - Brokerage ⇒ Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares (VWIUX)$100k – $250k

Vanguard - Brokerage ⇒ Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS)$100k – $250k

Charles Schwab - Brokerage ⇒ Charles Schwab Government Money Fund (SNVXX)$50k – $100k

Charles Schwab - Brokerage ⇒ Fidelity Contrafund Fund (FCNTX)$50k – $100k

Charles Schwab - Brokerage ⇒ iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF (SUSA)$50k – $100k

Charles Schwab - Brokerage ⇒ Parnassus Core Equity Fund (PRBLX)$50k – $100k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Fidelity Telecom & Utilities Fund (FIUIX)$50k – $100k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ Invesco Exchange Traded Fund TR S&P (XSVM)$50k – $100k

Fidelity - Traditional IRA ⇒ iShares S&P US Preferred Stock Index (PFF)$50k – $100k

Fidelity Brokerage #1 ⇒ iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF (EEMA)$50k – $100k

Largest first, capped at 40 line items. Each is the asset's reported value bracket, not the income it produced.

From annual financial disclosures, which report every asset and debt as a bracket — so these are ranges, and the figure shown is their midpoint. A primary residence is not a reportable asset while its mortgage is a reportable debt, which pushes some members negative. How this is calculated →

Overall lean (DW-NOMINATE)

LeftCenterRight

Issue profile

Taxes & Fiscal

D+0.70

Healthcare

D+0.77

Immigration & Border

D+0.70

Guns

D+0.93

Abortion & Reproductive Rights

D+0.67

Environment & Energy

D+0.81

Crime & Policing

D+0.26

Defense & Veterans

D+0.49

Economy & Labor

D+0.64

Foreign Policy & Trade

D+0.47

Civil Rights & Social

D+0.90

Education

D+0.65

Government & Democracy

D+0.81

Judicial & Executive Nominations

D+0.94

Each issue runs left ↔ right, scored from how the member voted on bills tagged to that issue (−1…+1). Issues with too few votes are blank. Overall lean uses DW-NOMINATE.

How they score against the parties

Peter Welch's voting record compared with each party's national platform, issue by issue — the same similarity score used across the site.

Democratic Party

93%Closest

Green Party

89%

Democratic Socialists (DSA)

85%

Communist Party USA

85%

Libertarian Party

57%

Republican Party

32%

On the political map

Peter Welch (the large ringed dot) among every current member of Congress and the party platforms.

Party platforms:Communist Party USADemocratic Socialists (DSA)Green PartyDemocratic PartyRepublican PartyLibertarian Party

Each small dot is a current member (Dem · Rep); the larger dots are party platforms — click one for its closest members. Economic axis: taxes, healthcare, labor, energy. Social axis: abortion, guns, immigration, civil rights, crime.

Do you vote like Welch?

Answer a few questions on the issues and see which members of Congress — and which party — actually line up with you.

Take the 2-minute quiz

Caucuses & committees

Where Welchsits in Congress's own organization — each group's lean is computed from its members' voting records. Explore them all on the caucuses and committees pages.

Committees

Most and least aligned members

Treating Welch's 14 issue scores as a vector, cosine similarity measures whether two voting records point the same way (+100%) or in opposite directions (−100%) — the colleagues whose records align most and least with theirs.