Michael Baumgartner
RepublicanU.S. Representative, WA-5| Age | 50 (b. 1975-12-13) |
| Gender | Male |
| In office since | 2025-01-03 (~1 yrs) |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Education | Pullman High School (1995); B.A. in Economics, Washington State University (1999); M.P.A., Harvard University (2002) |
| Prior occupation | U.S. State Department economics officer in Iraq (U.S. Embassy in Baghdad); civilian counternarcotics contractor in Helmand Province, Afghanistan; Spokane County Treasurer; Washington State Senator |
| Military service | No |
| Birthplace | Pullman, Washington |
| Languages | English, French |
| Marital status | Married — Eleanor Baumgartner (née Mayne) |
| Children | 5 |
| Residence | Spokane, Washington |
| Notable relatives | Father was a professor of Forestry and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University; no known relatives in politics |
Pending research: race / ethnicity · openly lgbtq.
Career & politics
| First elected | 2010 |
| Previous offices | Washington State Senator, 6th District (2011-2019) · Spokane County Treasurer (2019-2025) |
| Committees | Committee on Education and the Workforce · Committee on Foreign Affairs · Committee on the Judiciary |
| Caucuses | Congressional Western Caucus · Republican Study Committee · Congressional College Sports Caucus (co-founder) |
| Leadership | Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development (Committee on Education and the Workforce) |
| Ideology | Conservative Republican; member of the Republican Study Committee. Notably endorsed Washington Initiative 502 (marijuana legalization) in 2012, the only statewide candidate to do so that year. |
| Signature legislation | Restore College Sports Act (introduced 2025) - proposed to dissolve the NCAA and replace it with a federally-overseen American College Sports Association · State Senate: led repeal of law giving University of Washington a monopoly on physician training, enabling the Washington State University medical school in Spokane (2015) · State Senate: 2015 reduction of public university tuition by ~20% |
Financial
Net worth: estimate
No holdings recorded yet (from official Financial Disclosure filings).
Scandals & crimes ledger
No recorded incidents. Under the adjudicated-only methodology, an entry appears only when a court or official body has formally acted and the record is cited.