Rhode Island Legislature

In 1934, Pastore was elected as a Democrat to the Rhode Island House of Representatives.^[5] He was re-elected in 1936, and became chairman of the House Corporations Committee.^[2] He served as an assistant attorney general from 1937 until 1938, when he lost that position after the Republican Party swept several statewide offices.^[1] He then served as a member of the Providence Charter Revision Commission from 1939 to 1940.^[5]

When the Democratic Party returned to power in 1940, Pastore was appointed assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal calendar, serving in that position until 1944.^[2] In July 1941, he married Elena Caito, to whom he remained married until his death; the couple had one son and two daughters.^[3]

Governor of Rhode Island

Pastore was elected Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island in 1944.^[5] On October 6, 1945, he succeeded to the office of Governor of Rhode Island when Governor J. Howard McGrath resigned to become U.S. Solicitor General under President Harry S. Truman.^[2] During his first year in office, he established a one-percent sales tax.^[6]

In 1946, Pastore was elected to a full term as governor after defeating his Republican opponent, John G. Murphy, by a margin of 54%-46%.^[5] With his victory, he became the first Italian American to be elected a governor in the United States; Charles Poletti, who served as Governor of New York in December 1942, also succeeded to office but never sought election in his own right.^[1] He was re-elected in 1948, defeating Warwick mayor Albert P. Ruerat by 61%-38%.^[5] During his tenure, he enacted the state's first primary election law and corporate income tax.^[6] He also created a program to combat water pollution and a $20 million bonus for World War II veterans.^[6] As chairman of the New England Governors' Conference, he called for a uniform nationwide unemployment insurance tax, either through "federalization of the program or some form of federal reinsurance".^[2]

U.S. Senate

In 1950, Pastore was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat in a special election to succeed J. Howard McGrath, who had resigned in 1949 to become United States Attorney General (Edward L. Leahy held the office during a 16-month interim appointment). Pastore was reelected in 1952, 1958, 1964, and 1970.^[1]

In 1964 Pastore delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which nominated Lyndon B. Johnson for the presidency.^[1]

Pastore won his final senate race in 1970 by a 68%–32% margin over John McLaughlin, a Catholic priest who at the time supported the Vietnam War. McLaughlin, who later left the priesthood, became more famous as the host of the television program The McLaughlin Group.^[7]

Pastore voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,^[8] the Civil Rights Act of 1960,^[9] the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,^[10] the Civil Rights Act of 1964,^[11] the Voting Rights Act of 1965,^[12] the Medicare program,^[13] the Civil Rights Act of 1968,^[14] and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[15]

Pastore served as the chairman of United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. He is well remembered for taking part in a 1969 hearing involving a $20 million grant for the funding of PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting proposed by former President Lyndon Johnson. President Richard Nixon wanted to cut the proposed funding to $10 million due to the demands of the Vietnam War. Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, appeared before the committee to argue for the full $20 million. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television provided. Pastore was not familiar with Rogers' work, and was sometimes described as gruff and impatient, but he told Rogers that the testimony had given him goose bumps, and after Rogers recited the lyrics to "What Do You Do with the Mad that You Feel?", one of the songs from his show, Pastore declared: "I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million."^[16][17] The following year's appropriation increased PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.^[18] In 1971, Pastore was one of twenty-five Senators to co-sponsor the Health Security Act, a bill that advocated health coverage for every person living in America through a government-run health insurance program.^[19]

In 1976, Pastore did not seek re-election, and retired from the Senate. In retirement he served on the board of directors of Providence-based Columbus National Bank until its merger with Hospital Trust Bank in the late 1980s.