Michael Baumgartner
Official portrait, 2024
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Treasurer ofSpokane County
In office January 1, 2019 – January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Rob Chase
Succeeded by	Mike Volz
Member of theWashington Senate from the 6th district
In office January 10, 2011 – January 14, 2019
Preceded by	Chris Marr
Succeeded by	Jeff Holy
Personal details
Born	Michael James Baumgartner (1975-12-13)December 13, 1975 (age 49) Pullman, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Eleanor Mayne ​ (m. 2010)​
Children	5
Education	Washington State University (BA) Harvard University (MPA)
Signature
Website	House website Campaign website

Michael James Baumgartner (/ˈbɑːmɡɑːrtnər/BAHM-gart-nər, born December 13, 1975)^[1] is an American politician and former diplomat currently serving as theU.S. representative fromWashington's 5th congressional district, a post he has held since 2025. Baumgartner, aRepublican, previously served as the 28thSpokane CountyTreasurer and as a member of theWashington State Senate, representing the6th district from 2011 to 2019 and was his party's nominee inthe 2012 election for theUnited States Senate, unsuccessfully challengingDemocratic incumbentMaria Cantwell.

On February 26, 2024, Baumgartner announced his intention to run for theUnited States House of Representatives' inWashington's 5th congressional district to succeedCathy McMorris-Rodgers, who did not seek reelection.^[2] In August and November 2024, he won and placed first in both the primary and general elections respectively.^[3]

Baumgartner was born inPullman. His mother is akindergarten teacher and his father was a professor ofForestry andNatural Resource Sciences. After graduating fromPullman High School, he earned a scholarship to attendWashington State University. There, he was awarded a Thomas Foley scholarship, and was named a Stephenson scholar, an award given to the top graduates from the Honors College. He graduated in 1999 with a degree ineconomics with minors inFrench andmathematics. In 2002, he earned a master's degree inpublic administration fromHarvard University.

After graduating from Harvard, Baumgartner, aCatholic, volunteered on aGonzagaJesuit mission toMozambique and studied forests inSiberia.

During theIraq War, he served as an economics officer in the Office of Joint Strategic Planning & Assessment (JSPA) at theUnited States Embassy in Baghdad, helping theIraqi government as part of theBaghdad Security Plan, receiving accolades from then General David Petraeus as well as Ambassador Ryan Crocker. In 2008, he spent 7 months working as a civilian contractor in theHelmand Province of Afghanistan. That same year, Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen referred to Baumgartner as an ‘architect of hope’ in Iraq.

After leaving Iraq, Baumgartner worked as a civilian contractor inHelmand Province, Afganistan, where he encouragedpoppy farmers to grow food instead, in an effort to combat theopioid epidemic. He met his wife Eleanor Mayne, a journalist studyingcounternarcotics in Helmand Province, and the two were married in 2010.^[4]

Baumgartner represented parts of the City of Spokane, Airway Heights, and Cheney includingEastern Washington University. (map)

In 2010, Baumgartner returned to Eastern Washington and was planning a trip with his future wife Eleanor “to see if we actually like each other," when he was approached byCathy McMorris Rodgers'Chief of Staff and futureSpokane MayorDavid Condon, who recruited him to run against incumbent Democratic State Senator and Majority WhipChris Marr for theWashington State Senate6th Legislative District seat.^[4] On August 17, 2010, in the state primary election, Baumgartner defeated Marr with 53% of the vote.^[5] In the November election, he officially defeated Marr with 54% of the vote.^[6] The election battle between Marr and Baumgartner is considered the most hotly contested and expensive state legislative races in Washington state history.^[4]

During his tenure as Washington State Senator, Baumgartner has sponsored keynote legislation such as an amendment to theWashington State Senate to rise Higher Education to the State's #2 focus, reorganizing and streamlining central service functions, powers, and duties of the State Government, and reforming the rule-making process for State Economic Policy (the latter two receiving 47–0 votes in the State Senate).^[7]

In 2012 Baumgartner was named one of theNational Federation of Independent Business's Guardians of Business, the highest award they offer, in recognition of his votes that side "100 Percent" with small businesses.^[8] The Association of Washington Business has awarded him their 'Cornerstone Award' also, in recognition of his support for employers, economic development, and business-related issues in the Washington State Legislature.^[9]

In 2015, Baumgartner was awarded the "Legislator of The Year" award by anti-tax activistTim Eyman due to his consistent effort to fight tax increases proposed in the state legislature.^[10]

During the2016 presidential electionprimaries, Baumgartner chairedScott Walker'scampaign for president in the state of Washington.^[11]

In 2011 and 2012, Baumgartner was the ranking minority member of the Economic Development Trade & Innovation Committee, served on the Ways & Means Committee, and the Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee.^[12]

In 2013, two Democrats joined with the 23 Republicans to form the Majority Coalition Caucus.^[13] With the new coalition, Baumgartner was named Vice-Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and was also assigned to the Senate Trade and Economic Development Committee, the Higher Education Committee, and the Human Services and Corrections Committee.^[14]

In October 2011, Baumgartner decided to challenge incumbent U.S. SenatorMaria Cantwell (D-WA). Cantwell was running for her third term.^[15] Washington uses a "top-two"nonpartisan blanket primary system, in which the top two candidates of any party in the primary election advance to the general election. Cantwell and Baumgartner finished first and second, respectively, and competed in the general election.

Baumgartner has formally endorsed WashingtonInitiative 502 to legalize, regulate and taxmarijuana for adults 21 and over, making him the first and only candidate for statewide office in Washington state to do so, and taking a position that wasn't popular in his party.^[16][17]

In the November general election, Cantwell defeated Baumgartner. Cantwell received over 60% of the vote, to Baumgarter's 40%.

In 2018, Baumgartner opted not to run for reelection to the State Senate. Instead, he chose to run forSpokane CountyTreasurer. He won the November election and took office in January 2019.^[18] He was unopposed for reelection in 2022.

On February 26, 2024, shortly after incumbent CongresswomanCathy McMorris-Rodgers announced she would not seek re-election, Baumgartner announced he would run forWashington's 5th congressional district. While no public polling was conducted, Baumgartner was largely seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination.^[19] On August 6, 2024, Baumgartner won the primary for the open seat, placing first, with Democrat Carmela Conroy placing second. He received 28.4% of the vote to Conroy's 19.5%^[20]

On November 5, 2024, Baumgartner officially won the race for the district with over 60% of the vote.^[21] Notably, he outperformed predecessorCathy McMorris Rogers' result in 2022, despite not being an incumbent. He was the best performing Republican out of any candidate in the state, both federally and statewide.^[22]

In 2025, Baumgartner founded the bipartisan Congressional College Sports Caucus.^[23] He introduced the "Restore College Sports Act" with the aim of dissolving theNational Collegiate Athletic Association and replacing it with the "American College Sports Association," which would be overseen by the federal government.^[24]

In March 2025, Baumgartner joinedJim Jordan andTom McClintock in a letter challenging Washington Attorney GeneralNick Brown and the state sanctuary law, which restricts local police from enforcing federalimmigration policy. The letter follows accusations from the attorney general againstAdams County sheriff's office forunlawful imprisonment based solely on immigration status.^[25]

For the 119th Congress:^[26]

• Committee on Education and Workforce
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development (Vice Chair)
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
  • Subcommittee on South and Central Asia
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust
  • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet

• Congressional Western Caucus^[27]

During his tenure in the State Senate, Baumgartner fought to improve infrastructure in Eastern Washington, including securing the $900 million funding needed to complete the north–south corridor route first proposed sixty years ago, being the sole local Republican to support the major transportation package,^[28] helping lead successful efforts to build a new medical school in Spokane which addressed physician shortages in underserved and rural areas of Eastern Washington, which contributed to boosting healthcare economy jobs growth. The medical school, which was directed to be spearheaded byWashington State University, was originally blocked due to a 100-year old law that had given theUniversity of Washington a monopoly on training doctors in the state.^[29][30] Baumgartner lead efforts to repeal the law, ultimately being successful in 2015.

Baumgartner considered public education a top priority during his tenure and led efforts to halt increases and reduce tuition for public universities by 20% in Washington State in 2015, including theUniversity of Washington andWashington State University. It is currently the largest successful tuition reduction in the country's history.^[4] He has consistently fought for charter schools, which received significant opposition from the Washington State teachers’ unionWashington Education Association.^[31][32]

One of Baumgartner's most notable personal efforts was in 2016, when he took an outspoken stand against the expulsion of an American Samoan student, Robert Barber, from Washington State University. Barber had been only one credit short of a college degree when he was accused of involvement in a brawl. Baumgartner told a meeting of WSU regents: "If you don’t fix this, I goddamn will." Barber was reinstated to the student body, and was later found innocent of all criminal charges.^[33][34][35]

In February 2018, Baumgartner was one of a handful of Washington State legislators to vote against a bill that would have exempted legislators from public records rules.^[36]

In the final year of his tenure, 2018, theWashington Policy Center think-tank announced that Baumgartner would be presented with their prestigious "Champion of Freedom" award, in recognition "for his outstanding commitment to free-market principles, worker rights and limited government, particularly in advancing labor reform in our state. WPC’s board chose Baumgartner for this award in recognition of his "unwavering principled stand on numerous key issues during his many years in the State Senate."^[37]

Concluding the 2018 legislative session, Baumgartner introduced a satirical resolution calling for April 1 to be celebrated as "Governor Jay Inslee Integrity Day", mocking the Governor for his about-turn on vetoing public records legislation.^[38][39]

• 2014 Guardians of Small Business award. Presented byNFIB.^[40]
• 2015 Legislator of the Year award. Presented byTim Eyman.^[10]
• 2018 Champion of Freedom award. Presented byWashington Policy Center.^[41]

Baumgartner and his wife Eleanor have three sons and two daughters. In early 2018, they lost their fifth baby after suffering a late miscarriage.

Baumgartner maintained a close friendship withWashington State University football coachMike Leach throughout his life.^[42] Leach and Baumgartner taught a course together at WSU titled "Leadership Lessons in Insurgent Warfare & Football Strategy," designed to "explore strategy and tactics common in bothGuerilla Warfare and college football to provide a backdrop for critical thinking."^[43]

• Michael Baumgartner for Congressofficial campaign site
• Profile atVote Smart
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Campaign contributions atOpenSecrets.org

• 1975 births
• 21st-century United States representatives
• 21st-century members of the Washington State Legislature
• American expatriates in Iraq
• Harvard Kennedy School alumni
• Living people
• People from Pullman, Washington
• Politicians from Spokane, Washington
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state)
• Republican Party Washington (state) state senators
• Washington State University alumni

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• People appearing on C-SPAN