Tom Perriello is one of the most prominent main movers who paved the way for the re-emergence of the Christian left in the American political arena (Reuters)
Tom Perriello is an American diplomat and former member of Congress from the Democratic Party. He was elected to Congress in 2008, lost his seat in 2011, then lost the Virginia governor’s race in 2017. He worked as a special envoy to the Great Lakes region in Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2015, then to Sudan. Year 2024.
Birth and upbringing
Thomas Stewart Bryce Periello, known as (Tom Periello), was born on October 9, 1974 in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, on the Atlantic coast of the United States of America. He grew up with his father, who works as a pediatrician, and his mother, a financial analyst, in Ivy City, in the same state.
Tom Perriello was elected to Congress in 2008 and lost his seat in 2011 (Getty)
Study and scientific training
He studied primary and secondary levels in Ivy City schools, then studied law at Yale University in the northeastern state of Connecticut, from which he obtained a doctorate in 2001.
Political experience
He was one of the main movers who paved the way for the re-emergence of the Christian left as a political force during the rule of former US President George Bush. In 2004, he founded a special organization for committed Catholics seeking to achieve social justice.
In 2008, he was elected to the US Congress to represent the Fifth District in Virginia, defeating Republican Representative Virgil Good, who was holding the position at the time. Some considered his victory exceptional, because he was not well-known.
Although he was one of former US President Barack Obama's allies during his time in Congress, he lost his seat after 3 years, when he was defeated by Republican Robert Hurt.
Tom Perriello served as special envoy to the Great Lakes region in Africa in 2015 (Reuters)
He then joined the Obama administration, leading the US State Department's diplomatic efforts, and served as an envoy to the Great Lakes region in Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2015.
He lost in Virginia's governor's race in 2017, despite running a campaign that the New York Times described as "the most progressive" in the state's modern history.
On February 26, 2024, he appointed a special American envoy to Sudan against the backdrop of violent internal fighting that broke out in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, months after Democratic and Republican lawmakers demanded that American appoint an expert to help prevent one of the largest African countries from sliding. To civil war and ethnic cleansing, and an attempt to contain one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Jobs and responsibilities
From 2002-2003, he worked at the Special Court for Sierra Leone with a mandate from the United Nations. He then became a special advisor to Prosecutor General David Crane, then an advisor to the International Center for Transitional Justice in Kosovo in 2003, in the Darfur region in western Sudan in 2005, and then in Afghanistan in 2007.
After leaving Congress, he moved to the role of CEO of the Center for American Progressive Action, a non-profit organization, and also served as a policy advisor to the Fund.
Source: websites