Biography:

Jim Matheson was an energy consultant, providing financial advice to large energy users. His consulting business, The Matheson Group, folded at the end of 1999 so Matheson could focus on his first campaign.

He was born in Salt Lake City and resides there today. He received his bachelor's degree in government from Harvard in 1982 and his MBA from University of California, Los Angeles in 1987.

He and his wife, Amy, a pediatrician, have one son.

Past Campaigns:

Jim Matheson was first elected to public office in 2000, when he defeated Republican candidate Derek Smith with 56 percent of the vote in the Republican-leaning 2nd District, which then included most of Salt Lake City and its southern suburbs.

Matheson ran in 2002 in a gerrymandered district that takes in almost all of eastern and southern Utah and half of Salt Lake County.

He defeated Republican John Swallow, an attorney and former state legislator, by a mere 1,641 votes. Matheson received 50 percent of the vote to Swallow's 49 percent.

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