Village of New Berlin Mayor Peter Lennon is considering running for the U.S. Congress (Submitted photo)

NEW BERLIN – Retired Army Major General and current Mayor of New Berlin Peter Lennon has announced the formation of an exploratory committee for Congress.

Lennon will begin meeting with and listening to residents throughout the Southern Tier and Central New York to discuss his potential candidacy.

Lennon, a Republican and native of Chenango County, is widely recognized as a logistics and supply chain expert with multiple tours in combat theaters during his nearly forty-year Army career.

He rose to the senior levels of national and international policy development and was selected to command the largest 2-star-level organization in the military. Pete culminated his uniformed service as the Deputy Commanding General for Training and Support of the U.S. Army Reserve’s 200,000 Soldiers across the nation. Upon his retirement from the U.S. Army in 2017, he and his wife, the former Elaine Rovazzi of Little Falls, NY, returned home to Chenango County.

In addition to his desire to continue his public service as a member of Congress, Lennon also cited the underrepresentation of a large part of southern Upstate New York due to the pending retirement of Congressman Tom Reed and the uncertainty of redistricting. Under the current dy- namic, there will be no Member of Congress residing in this area of New York, which represents a landmass larger than Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined.

“One thing is clear, with the absence of a Representative living within the Southern part of upstate from the western border to the Hudson River, many residents of this state will not have a voice, turning central and southern New York into drive-through country,” Lennon said.

“I’m exploring a run for Congress to ensure the nearly 1.5 million people not only have that voice, but have a strong, effective voice,” Lennon continued.

Since his retirement from the Army, Pete has been a driving force in numerous economic and social wellness programs. He is the director of the Chenango County United Way’s Microloan Project and remains actively involved in veteran and military support programs at both the local and national levels.

Lennon is an active member of workforce training and entrepreneurial initiatives, and he recently served as a high-school mentor in Utica’s College’s Young Scholars Program. In New Berlin, Lennon is active in Rotary and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. In the spring of 2021, he was elected mayor of the Village of New Berlin.

With the launch of his exploratory effort, entitled “Pete for UPstate”, Pete will be traveling extensively over the next several weeks to introduce himself and better understand how issues being discussed at the national level can and do impact his neighbors.

To learn more about Pete and the “Pete for UPstate” movement, visit PeteForUPstate.com or follow at Facebook.com/PeteForUPstate.

– From the Office of Peter Lennon