investments and research, and favors the rapid implementation of 'cleaner' alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels. Vermont Democrats also support laws that places caps, or limits, on the carbon emissions of both public transportation and personal vehicles. Foreign policy The party is opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It believes the decision to go to war was ill-advised and has led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The party has strongly supported President Obama's decisions to withdraw troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Civil rights The Vermont Democratic Party supports equal rights amendments to the Constitution and the protection of all citizens, regardless of race, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, military service, or creed. It has supported Vermont's pioneering initiatives in same-sex marriage, plus the predecessor laws favoring civil unions. It also supports the repeals of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. The party also denounces torture and believes all people have due process rights that should never be violated. The party strongly supported President Obama's decision to ban the torturous technique of waterboarding from being used on suspected terrorists. Howard Dean Howard Dean may be the most nationally renowned Democratic politician to come out of Vermont in recent years. He served as Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003. In 2004 he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president. Dean also served as chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, and is credited with being instrumental in Barack Obama's successful campaign for the presidency in 2008. His Fifty-state strategy is widely considered the reason Obama was able to win in some traditionally Republican states. Current elected officials As of late 2020, there are Democratic incumbents holding five of the six statewide offices in the executive branch — all but Governor (Republican) — and the Democrats also hold firm majorities in Vermont's Senate and House of Representatives. At the federal level, Democrats hold one of the state's U.S. Senate seats, and Democrats also hold the state's single 'At-Large' seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; the incumbent, Representative Peter Welch, first elected in 2006, was the first Democrat to represent Vermont in the lower chamber of Congress since William H. Meyer in 1961, and the first House Democrat from Vermont to be re-elected in more than 150 years. Members of Congress U.S.