Peter Thomas King (ND Law ‘68) is an American former politician and novelist. A member of the Republican Party, he represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives for 28 years, from 1993 until his retirement in 2021. He represented a South Shore Long Island district that includes portions of Nassau County and Suffolk County, numbered as New York’s 3rd district until 2013, when it was renumbered as the 2nd district.

King was born on April 5, 1944 in New York City. He was raised Roman Catholic in the Sunnyside neighborhood of the Queens borough. He became interested in politics at an early age, primarily through watching national conventions on television.

He is the son of Ethel M. King (née Gittins) and Peter E. King. His father was a New York City police officer. His paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants from the island of Inishbofin in County Galway. His maternal grandfather was Welsh, and his maternal grandmother was also Irish, from County Limerick.

In 1965, King graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York with a B.A. in Political Science. He then attended the Law School at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his J.D. law degree in 1968. While studying at Notre Dame, King met Rosemary Wiedl, who was a student at the neighboring Saint Mary’s College. They married in 1967 and share two children, Sean and Erin.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1968, King began service in the 165th Infantry Regiment of the New York Army National Guard, continuing until he was honorably discharged in 1974. While serving in the National Guard, he worked for the Nassau County district attorney's office and also joined a local Republican club in New York.

King’s first role in public office came in 1977, when he ran for an at-large seat on the Hempstead, New York town council and was elected. He was subsequently elected Nassau County Comptroller in 1981, 1985, and 1989. During this time, he maintained an interest in national and international policy.

When the incumbent United States representative for New York's 3rd district, Democratic Rep. Robert Mrazek, stepped down to pursue a 1992 United States Senate candidacy against Republican incumbent Al D'Amato, King ran for and was elected to Mrazek's former seat. King was elected to Congress in 1992 and assumed office on January 3, 1993.

With close ties to his Irish lineage, King was an active supporter of the Irish republican movement. He frequently traveled to Northern Ireland to meet with senior members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group. Throughout the 1990s, King maintained a close relationship with Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish republican movement. King worked actively with President Bill Clinton to help negotiate the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998.

King published his first novel, Terrible Beauty, in 1999. The novel is set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles in the 1980s, where protagonist Bernadette Hanlon becomes involved with the Irish Republican Army after her husband is framed for the murder of a British soldier. King followed this with two novels led by protagonist Sean Cross, a Republican Long Island Congressman: Deliver Us From Evil (2002), in which Cross navigates the aftermath of the murder of an IRA informer in his district, and Vale of Tears (2003), which centers around the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Approximately 150 people from King’s district were killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, several of whom King knew personally. In the ensuing years, King prioritized legislation to support first responders and surviving families of 9/11 victims, including bills to establish and reauthorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to provide ongoing medical support for those exposed to toxins from the attacks.

King served two terms as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, from 2005-2007 and again in 2011-2013. During his time as Chairman, King held several hearings on the alleged radicalization of some American Muslims, sparking both support and backlash from his peers in Congress as well as from activist organizations. In addition to his Chairmanship of the House Committee on Homeland Security, King also served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (2007-2018) and the Financial Service Committee (1993-2020).

King announced that he was considering running for Senate in 2000 and again in 2010. He also considered running for President in 2016. In each case, he ultimately decided instead to seek re-election to the House of Representatives and was successful each time.

In 2013, St. John's University, a private Catholic university in King's home borough of Queens, New York City, granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his active role in assisting New York City in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. King gave the commencement address at the ceremony.

In 2019, King announced that he would not seek re-election in 2020, and would instead step down once his current two-year term expired. He subsequently retired after 28 years of service in the House of Representatives on January 3, 2021. Post-retirement, he remains active in making speaking engagements at local Republican political events in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, as well as on local and national political media programs.