Pete Domenici

Peter Vichi Domenici (born May 7, 1932) has served as a Republican U.S. Senator from New Mexico continuously since 1973. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

One of five children, and the only son, of Italian immigrants, Pete graduated in 1950 from St. Mary's High School, Albuquerque. After gaining a degree in education at the University of New Mexico, 1954, he pitched a season for the Albuquerque Dukes, a farm club for the former Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, but left baseball to teach math at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque, 1955. Pete Domenici earned his law degree at the University of Denver (1958), and returned to practice law in Albuquerque.

In 1958 he married Nancy Burk. They have two sons and six daughters. Domenici started his political career by being elected to Albuquerque City Commission, 1966, then elected Commission Chairman (equivalent then to Mayor) in 1967. In 1972, he became the first Republican in 38 years in New Mexico to be elected to U.S. Senate, after losing the race for Governor two years before. He was re-elected in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002. Domenici is Chairman of the