Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American politician, lawyer, and former naval officer serving as the senior United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Michigan's 14th congressional district, which included the eastern half of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes, Hamtramck, Southfield, and Pontiac, from 2009 to 2015 (the district was Michigan's 9th congressional district until 2013).
Before his election to Congress, Peters served in the United States Navy Reserve, spent 22 years as an investment advisor, and worked briefly in academia. He was elected to the Rochester Hills City Council in 1991 and represented the 14th district in the Michigan Senate from 1995 to 2002. He was the Democratic nominee for Michigan attorney general in 2002, narrowly losing to Republican Mike Cox. He was then appointed commissioner of the Michigan Lottery by Governor Jennifer Granholm, serving from 2003 to 2008, when he resigned to run for Congress.
In 2014, Peters was elected to the United States Senate, the only non-incumbent Democrat to win a Senate election that year. He was reelected in 2020, defeating Republican nominee John E. James in a close race.
Peters chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. He is the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the 119th Congress. On January 28, 2025, he announced that he will not seek reelection in 2026.
Gary Charles Peters was born on December 1, 1958, in Pontiac, Michigan. His father, Herbert Garrett Peters, was a public school teacher who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. His mother, Madeleine Vignier, who met his father in France during the war, was a nurse's aide and helped unionize her workplace. Peters' family has lived in Michigan since the 1840s. He grew up in Oakland County and graduated from Rochester High School.
After high school, Peters attended Alma College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1980 with a bachelor of arts in political science and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He later earned a master of business administration from the University of Detroit Mercy in 1984. Peters also holds a juris doctor and a master of arts in political science from Wayne State University and a master of arts in philosophy from Michigan State University.
Peters joined the United States Navy Reserve in 1993 at age 34. He served more than 10 years in units at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, including Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 26. During his Navy service, Peters earned the Seabee combat warfare specialist insignia and carried out assignments as an assistant supply officer.
Peters's reserve duty included time in the Persian Gulf supporting Operation Southern Watch; he served overseas again during increased military activity following the September 11 attacks. Peters attained the rank of lieutenant commander before leaving the Reserve in 2008; his awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. In 2018, he received a diploma from the College of Naval Command and Staff, part of the U.S. Naval War College.
Peters worked for 22 years as a financial advisor, serving as an assistant vice president at Merrill Lynch from 1980 until 1989, when he joined Paine Webber as a vice president.
From 2007 to 2008, Peters served as the third Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at Central Michigan University. In that part-time position, he taught one class a semester, plus preparing additional student activities including two policy forums, and developing a journal of Michigan politics and policy, for $65,000 a year. Peters announced his candidacy to run for Congress two months after being hired. Some student and faculty members protested Peters's hiring, saying he could not be objective in the classroom while running for office and that the university job was subsidizing his campaign.
Peters also has taught finance at Wayne State and strategic management and business policy courses at Oakland University.
Peters was a senior policy and financial analyst for the Michigan Department of Treasury and served on arbitration panels for the New York Stock Exchange and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Before serving in the Michigan Senate, Peters served on the Rochester Hills City Council from 1991 to 1993.
After a failed attempt in 1990, Peters was elected to the Michigan Senate to represent the Oakland County-based 14th district in November 1994. The district is one of the most diverse state Senate districts – containing nearly every racial, ethnic, and religious group in Michigan. It includes the cities of Pontiac, Bloomfield Hills, Southfield, and Oak Park in southeastern Oakland County. Peters was reelected in 1998 and served until 2002, stepping down then due to the state's term limits. He was succeeded by Gilda Jacobs.
Peters was chosen by his Democratic colleagues to chair his party's caucus. He was also a member of the Michigan Law Revision Commission and served on the Michigan Sentencing Commission. Both the Michigan State House of Representatives and the Senate passed a bill sponsored by Peters which banned any new wells under the state waters of the Great Lakes except in case of a state energy emergency. The bill passed into law without the signature of Governor John Engler.
Peters served as the vice chairman of the Senate Finance, Education, Judiciary and Economic Development Committees. He was also a member of the Natural Resources and the Mental Health and Human Services Committee.
In 2002, Peters was a candidate for governor and later for Attorney General.
As the Democratic nominee for attorney general, he lost the 2002 election to Republican nominee Mike Cox by about 5,200 votes, a 0.17% margin. Peters decided not to contest the result despite reported irregularities. Several mistakes were reportedly found during analysis, including a precinct in Dearborn that recorded Peters with 96 votes when he actually had 396. The race was Michigan's closest statewide contest since the 1950 gubernatorial race.