Biography

Congressman Jim Matheson

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In January 2009, Jim Matheson was sworn in for a fifth term representing Utah’s Second Congressional District, which comprises the eastern half of Salt Lake County, the northern tip of Utah County and 14 eastern and southern Utah counties.  It also includes the most populous southern Utah city—St. George.

Congressman Matheson serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, an exclusive committee with the broadest jurisdiction of any Congressional committee. The Energy and Commerce Committee deals with energy policy, consumer protection, food and drug safety, health care, air quality and environmental health, telecommunications and interstate and foreign commerce.  Matheson is also a member of the House Science and Technology Committee.

During his tenure, Congressman Matheson has championed bipartisanship, looking to “reach across the aisle” for common sense solutions to issues.  The Deseret News said, “Matheson isn’t the first member from the 2nd District to be more independent than their parties may like.”  Of his record, the Salt Lake Tribune said, “it suggests that Matheson is just what he says he is—a Utah Democrat.”

Congressman Matheson is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative House Democrats, with a reputation as a force to be reckoned with in the policy arena.  He is a past Co-Chairman of the group.

Congressman Matheson is a sixth-generation Utahn who was born and reared in Salt Lake City.  Jim, his sister and his two brothers all attended Salt Lake City public schools.  He received his B.A. in government from Harvard University and his MBA from UCLA.

Before his election to Congress, he worked in the energy industry for 13 years for several local companies and in his own firm.  His wife, Amy, is a pediatrician and they have two sons.