Michael Baumgartner

Michael James Baumgartner (/ˈbɑːmɡɑːrtnər/ BAHM-gart-nər, born December 13, 1975) is an American politician and former diplomat currently serving as the U.S. representative from Washington's 5th congressional district, a post he has held since 2025. Baumgartner, a Republican, previously served as the 28th Spokane County treasurer and as a member of the Washington State Senate, representing the 6th district from 2011 to 2019 and was his party's nominee in the 2012 election for the United States Senate, unsuccessfully challenging Democratic incumbent Maria Cantwell.

On February 26, 2024, Baumgartner announced his intention to run for the United States House of Representatives' in Washington's 5th congressional district to succeed Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, who did not seek reelection. In August and November 2024, he won and placed first in both the primary and general elections respectively.

Baumgartner was born in Pullman. His mother is a kindergarten teacher and his father was a professor of Forestry and Natural Resource Sciences. After graduating from Pullman High School, he earned a scholarship to attend Washington 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 in economics with minors in French and mathematics. In 2002, he earned a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.

After graduating from Harvard, Baumgartner, a Catholic, volunteered on a Gonzaga Jesuit mission to Mozambique and studied forests in Siberia.

During the Iraq War, he served as an economics officer in the Office of Joint Strategic Planning & Assessment (JSPA) at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, helping the Iraqi government as part of the Baghdad 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 the Helmand 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 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, where he encouraged poppy farmers to grow food instead, in an effort to combat the opioid epidemic. He met his wife Eleanor Mayne, a journalist studying counternarcotics in Helmand Province, and the two were married in 2010.

Baumgartner represented parts of the City of Spokane, Airway Heights, and Cheney including Eastern 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 by Cathy McMorris Rodgers' Chief of Staff and future Spokane Mayor David Condon, who recruited him to run against incumbent Democratic State Senator and Majority Whip Chris Marr for the Washington State Senate 6th Legislative District seat. On August 17, 2010, in the state primary election, Baumgartner defeated Marr with 53% of the vote. In the November election, he officially defeated Marr with 54% of the vote. The election battle between Marr and Baumgartner is considered the most hotly contested and expensive state legislative races in Washington state history.