Gary Peters (politician)

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Gary Peters

Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958 in Pontiac , Michigan ) is an American Democratic Party politician . He has represented the state of Michigan in the United States Senate since 2015 . The investment banker and lecturer had previously been a member of the House of Representatives from 2009 and held various offices and mandates at local and regional level.

Family, education and work

Gary Peters is the son of Herb Peters from Rochester and Madeleine Vignier from France. They met when the father was serving for the United States on World War II in France and were married there in 1946. They settled in Michigan, where Peters was born and raised and his father was a teacher, local historian, and sports reporter; his mother was a nurse. Gary Peters graduated from Alma College in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in political science and then studied at the University of Detroit , where he earned a Master of Business Administration in 1984 . Then he acquired in 1989 at the Wayne State University the Juris Doctor and 2007 a master's in philosophy at Michigan State University .

Between 1993 and 2000 and again from 2001 to 2005 he was a Specialist in the US Navy Reserve ( Seabees ). He did active service in the Persian Gulf and again after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 . Peters worked as a stockbroker on the New York Stock Exchange and an investment banker . He has also taught finance and economics at Oakland University in Rochester and Wayne State University in Detroit . He taught political science at Central Michigan University . He serves on the board of directors of Common Cause Michigan.

The member of the Episcopal Church is married to Colleen Ochoa, with whom he has three children. The couple lives in Bloomfield Hills .

Political career

From 1991 to 1993, Peters served on Rochester City Council; After his election in 1994, he was a member of the Michigan Senate from 1995 , was re-elected in 1998 and left parliament in 2002. In the same year he applied unsuccessfully for the office of Attorney General Michigan. The following year he was named the state lottery commissioner and served in that capacity from 2003 to 2007. In doing so, he succeeded in increasing the revenue invested in education in Michigan through new games.

In the 2008 election , Peters was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 9th Congressional constituency of Michigan , where he succeeded Joe Knollenberg on January 3, 2009 . He beat the long-time Republican elector in a structurally conservative constituency and drew criticism from among moderate Democrats. Re-elected in 2010 and 2012, he was a member of the House of Representatives for three terms, following the redesign of the constituencies as a result of the United States Census 2010 from 2013 in the reliable Democratic 14th Congressional constituency. In the House of Representatives, Peters was a member of the finance and science committees .

In November 2014, Peters applied in the Senate election to succeed his party colleague Carl Levin, who was no longer running . He prevailed against the Republican Terri Lynn Land and moved to the Senate on January 3, 2015 within Congress . There he is a member of the committees for homeland security and trade .

Positions and Actions

Peters is considered a reliable senator who voted with the party line and supported President Barack Obama in many projects, in particular the Obamacare health care reform . He has campaigned for comprehensive immigration reform and an increase in the minimum wage .

In 2018, he received the Science Coalition's Champion of Science award from the University of Michigan for his work on the Commerce and Science Committee . Since 2016, Peters has been going on a multi-day motorcycle tour through Michigan every August, during which he gets to talk to voters.

Web links

Commons : Gary Peters  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Michael Dwyer: Lifelong Rochester Resident and Local Historian Herb Peters dies at age 95. In: Rochester Media , April 27, 2011; Mattie Cook: Gary Peters challenges Terri Lynn Land. In: The Sentinel-Standard , July 31, 2014.
  2. ^ Gary Peters' Biography. In: Vote Smart ; Gregory Lewis McNamee: Gary Peters. In: Encyclopedia Britannica , June 11, 2015.
  3. ^ State Senator Gary C. Peters. In: Michigan Legislature Manual , 1999/2000, p. 166 (PDF) .
  4. ↑ Alex Isenstadt: Gary Peters faces redistricting troubles. In: Politico , February 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Martin Slagter: Sen. Gary Peters receives Champion of Science Award at UM. In: Michigan Live , March 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ Alex Gangitano: Gary Peters' Michigan Motorcycle Ride Includes Tariffs Talk. In: Roll Call , August 13, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Peters, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peters, Gary Charles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Democratic Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1st December 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Pontiac , Michigan