Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Torkildsen, Peter G.
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationRepublican  
 
NamePeter G. Torkildsen
Address
Danvers, Massachusetts , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born January 28, 1958 (66 years)
Contributor*crickets chirp*
Last ModifedRBH
Jan 31, 2015 07:56pm
Tags Catholic -
InfoPeter Gerard Torkildsen is the Massachusetts Republican State Committee Chairman and is also a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He was a Republican from Massachusetts.

Torkildsen was born in to a Roman Catholic family with ten children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 28, 1958. He attended college at the University of Massachusetts and then went on to the prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Before entering politics, he was a service coordinator for the Visiting Nurses Association of Boston.

Torkildsen served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991. From 1991 to 1992, Torklidsen was the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industries. He then went on to represent Massachusetts' 6th Congressional District as a Republican from 1993 until 1997.

He was narrowly defeated in the Presidential-year elections of 1996 by Democrat John F. Tierney in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Democratic President Bill Clinton in that year's Presidential election.

Tierney was part of a net two-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.

Since leaving the House, Torklidsen 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. Anticipating that he would be removed from this position by the new Democratic Governor, Deval Patrick, and desiring lead the repair of a faltering Massachusetts Republican Party, Torkildsen announced in December 2006 that he would run in the Janaury 2007 election for State Party Chairman. Torkildsen was in fact later removed from the Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board shortly after Patrick's inauguration.

However, on January 17th, 2007, Torkildsen was elected by the Massachusetts Republican State Committee with 58% of the vote to a two-year term as its new chairman. Unlike some previous chairmen, Torkildsen is taking this as a full-time job.

[Link]

JOB APPROVAL POLLS

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor
Dec 01, 2006 01:55pm Blog Entry Ex-congressman wants state GOP chairmanship  Article *crickets chirp* 

DISCUSSION
Importance? 6.80000 Average

FAMILY

INFORMATION LINKS
RACES
  11/03/1998 MA District 6 Lost 42.38% (-12.18%)
  09/15/1998 MA District 6 - R Primary Won 68.17% (+36.46%)
  11/05/1996 MA District 6 Lost 47.99% (-0.13%)
  11/08/1994 MA District 6 Won 50.51% (+3.12%)
  11/03/1992 MA District 6 Won 54.83% (+9.96%)
  09/15/1992 MA District 6 - R Primary Won 55.70% (+11.82%)
  09/18/1990 MA Lt. Governor - R Primary Lost 40.55% (-18.86%)
  11/08/1988 MA State House - Thirteenth Essex Won 99.37% (+98.74%)
  11/04/1986 MA State House - Thirteenth Essex Won 66.35% (+32.86%)
  11/06/1984 MA State House - Thirteenth Essex Won 51.22% (+2.43%)
ENDORSEMENTS
MA US President - R Primary - Mar 01, 2016 R John Kasich
MA Republican Party Chairman - Nov 30, 2011 R Robert Maginn
MA State Senate - Third Middlesex - Nov 07, 2006 R Sandra "Sandi" Martinez
MA US Senate - R Primary - Sep 12, 2006 R Kevin P. Scott
MA US President - R Primary - Mar 08, 1988 R Robert J. "Bob" Dole