About the Senator

Personal History

  • Born May 7, 1932 in Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • One of five children, and only son, of Italian immigrants
  • Worked in father's wholesale grocery business
  • Graduated 1950 from St. Mary's High School, Albuquerque
  • Earned education degree, University of New Mexico, 1954
  • Pitched for Albuquerque Dukes—a farm club for the old Brooklyn Dodgers, 1954
  • Left baseball to become math teacher at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque, 1955
  • Earned law degree, University of Denver, 1958
  • Returned to Albuquerque, entered private practice, 1958
  • Married the former Nancy Burk, 1958
  • The Domenicis have eight children: two sons and six daughters

Political Experience

  • Domenici elected to Albuquerque City Commission, 1966
  • Elected Commission Chairman (equivalent then to Mayor), 1967
  • First Republican in 38 years in New Mexico to be elected to U.S. Senate, 1972
  • With re-election in 2002, Domenici became the first New Mexican elected to serve six full six-year terms in the Senate.
  • Domenici has served longer in the U.S. Senate than any other New Mexican in history

Overheard

"Pete is the consummate legislator. He always knows his subject matter very, very well. He's strong in his views, but he's not rigid in his approach to negotiations. He's willing to give when necessary, but he keeps his eye on the ultimate objective. He's relentless in his desire to get the ball over the goal."—Former U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), National Journal, May 2003

"I remember I was a young staff person in 1973, and he was a newly elected Senator from New Mexico, formerly the mayor of Albuquerque. Even back then many of us recognized--because of his intelligence, his good will, and the way he was able to demonstrate his ability to work across the aisle--that we would have the good fortune to work with him for a long, long time."—Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle, May 2003

"He is a Republican and a strong Republican, but in the end, to govern, it seems to me, in this country, and particularly in a United States Senate that's been so evenly divided--to govern, you have to somehow work in toward the center. And that's been his strength. That's basically where he is on the political spectrum when it comes to fiscal policy. I think he sees a role for government, trying to bring, as I say, those disparate folks together, producing something that will keep government operating and functioning."—G. William Hoagland, former Senate Budget Committee staff director, National Public Radio, February 2003

"For projects great and small needing federal support, New Mexicans can count on Sen. Domenici to weigh their merits. If he thinks they're good for the state and the nation, he's likely to go to bat for them. And the longer he's in the Senate, the better his batting average: Although Domenici was a force to reckon with early in his Capitol career, his influence grows exponentially with every new six-year term."—Santa Fe New Mexican, October 2002

"With its terrible problems, from poverty through drought, which depend significantly on federal attention, New Mexico simply cannot afford to lose Domenici's influence in Washington. Domenici's stature there is such that he commands easy access to the White House, his colleagues on Capitol Hill and the entire federal apparatus. This has contributed to such Herculean accomplishments as Domenici's roles in saving Kirtland Air Force Base from decimation, keeping the national labs awash in money, and helping to bring high-tech businesses and their well-paying jobs and benefits to New Mexico."—Albuquerque Tribune, October 2002

"No one else in Congress has the same grasp of budget procedures. Perhaps no one else wants to. Being chairman of the Budget Committee is surely one of the least glamorous powerful positions in Congress. There are no ribbons to cut, no grants to dispense, no fat-cat lobbyists or deep-pocketed contributors whose livelihoods depend on the budget, no constituents who can see direct benefits of his work... If Mr. Domenici sounds like a serious man, he is. A colleague once described him as having a case of terminal responsibility.' He is not cut from the same bolt as most politicians."—New York Times, April 2001

"...Mr. Domenici enjoys a universal reputation as one of the Senate's hardest working, most intelligent and most intense members."—New York Times, May 1995

"New Mexico is extremely fortunate to have a man of the stature of Sen. Pete Domenici representing us in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Domenici is extremely intelligent and articulate... He has common sense and as the saying goes, that is very uncommon today, and especially so in Washington."—Alamogordo Daily News, February 1996

"Sen. Domenici is one of America's premiere lawmakers and statesmen. His work on the federal budget, both as a minority and majority senator, has been exemplary—as is most of his routine performance."—Santa Fe New Mexican, February 1996

"Domenici has proven himself a skilled, tireless and resilient legislator... He has brought together disparate interests under a common banner and proved himself a true legislative craftsman."—National Journal, June 1995

"If ever there was a time when there was a confluence of fiscal restraint and political circumstances to accomplish a balanced budget, you couldn't have a better man than Pete Domenici in a position to get it done."—Howard Baker, National Journal, June 1995

"He's more interested in seeing that the right things get done and the wrong things get stopped than he is in pursuing some rigid conservative ideology."—Albuquerque Tribune, November 1994

"Over the years, [Domenici] has stood for doing something about deficit reduction. He has taken hard, tough positions. I have nothing but praise for him individually."—Speaker Thomas Foley, February 14, 1993

"Over the years, [Domenici] has honed his considerable political expertise to a fine edge and earned the respect of his colleagues. He has gotten important committee assignments, most of them of significance to New Mexico."—Ralph Looney, Albuquerque Tribune, July 31, 1991