PATRICK LEAHY of Middlesex was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. In December 2008, Leahy became the longest-serving senator from Vermont. Now in his eighth term, Leahy ranks first in Senate seniority and is the Dean of the Senate.

In addition to serving as the Vice Chair, Leahy is the Ranking Member on the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee and a leading member of the Agriculture and Judiciary Committees. 

Leahy was raised in Montpelier, Vt., and graduated from Saint Michael’s College (1961) and received his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center (1964).  He served for eight years as State's Attorney in Chittenden County.  He gained a national reputation for his law enforcement activities and was selected (1974) as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the United States.

Leahy is the co-chair of the Senate National Guard Caucus and co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus.  Leahy is considered the father of the national organic standards and labeling program and a variety of other farm, conservation, nutrition and environmental initiatives, including efforts to protect Lake Champlain.  He wrote the first law in the world banning the export of landmines, and the Leahy War Victims Fund is used worldwide to help landmine victims.  The so-called “Leahy Law” has come to be recognized as the most effective human rights tool in the nation’s foreign assistance toolbox.  

Leahy is an original author of the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program and was the chief author and sponsor of the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Leahy and his wife, Marcelle Pomerleau Leahy, live on a tree farm in Middlesex and have three children and five grandchildren.