Deutsch, Peter R., 1957-

Peter R. Deutsch (born April 1, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. Representative from Florida's 20th congressional district from 1993 until 2005.

Born in the Bronx, he graduated from the Horace Mann School in 1975 and attended Swarthmore College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979. In college, he worked as an intern for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Deutsch graduated from Yale Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1982. After graduating from Yale, Deutsch moved to Broward County, Florida, where he was a lawyer in private practice. He founded the nonprofit Medicare Information Program of Broward County, while working to help Medicare recipients in the area, and served as the group's director during 1982. In 1982, Deutsch was elected for the first of five two-year terms in the Florida House of Representatives, where he wrote legislation protecting seniors from illegal nursing home evictions.

In the 1992 House election Deutsch was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. Several times, including in 2000 and 2002, he ran for reelection unopposed. In the House he became the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which investigated amongst other things the Enron scandal, the Firestone Tire issue, NIH Conflicts and Martha Stewart’s ImClone stock trading case. Deutsch served from January 3, 1993, to January 3, 2005. During the Florida election recount after the 2000 presidential election, Deutsch led many of the recount efforts in Broward County and brought the motion to the floor of the Senate to contest the results of the 2000 election, an effort that had been seconded by Alcee Hastings. In 2004, Deutsch declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat being vacated in 2005 by retiring Democratic Senator Bob Graham, losing to Betty Castor.

Deutsch currently resides in Ra'anana, Israel, with his family. However, he has not taken Israeli citizenship, does not speak Hebrew, and frequently visits Florida. He also founded Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood, Florida.