Matt Salmon

Matthew James Salmon (born January 21, 1958) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arizona from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 until 2017.

A member of the Republican Party, he retired from office after representing Arizona's 5th congressional district.

The district is based in Mesa and includes most of the East Valley; he previously represented Arizona's 1st congressional district.

Salmon moved to Tempe at age 12 and graduated from Mesa High School in 1976.

Salmon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He lived in Taiwan from 1977 to 1979 as a missionary and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.

Salmon was also a Sunday School teacher, cubmaster, and gospel doctrine teacher with his church.

After graduating from college, Salmon worked as a telecommunications executive at Mountain Bell in 1981, eventually becoming community relations manager with Mountain Bell's successor, US West.

Salmon was offered the position of director of public relations with US West in 1990, but declined the position after deciding to run for state senate.

In 1990, he ran for the Arizona Senate in the 21st Senate District based in Mesa, Arizona.

In the Republican primary, he defeated incumbent State Senator Jerry Gillespie.

In the general election, he defeated Democrat Bill Hegarty 60–40%.

In 1992, he won re-election to a second term unopposed.

In 1992, he was elected assistant majority leader.

In 1993, he sponsored legislation that created new drug testing programs for employers.

That year, he also called for an independent study of the Department of Economic Services' child welfare agency.

Incumbent U.S. Representative Sam Coppersmith, a Democrat, decided to retire after one term in what was then the 1st district in order to run for the U.S. Senate.

Salmon won the Republican primary with a plurality of 39% in a five-candidate field.

During his first congressional campaign, term limits were a high-profile issue.

Salmon was one of many candidates nationwide who pledged to serve only three terms in Congress.

In the general election, he defeated Democratic State Senator Chuck Blanchard, 56%–39%.

He won re-election to a second term with 60% of the vote.

He won re-election to a third term with 65% of the vote.

During the 1994 congressional election, Salmon signed the Contract with America.

He served in that position until 1995.

In 1999, he unsuccessfully advocated carving Ronald Reagan's face into Mount Rushmore, stating "He's the president that ended the Cold War. You think about 40 years of a major threat, not only to our country but to the world at large, being ended by one man - that's quite an achievement."

Salmon's idea garnered support from Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.) and John R. Kasich (R-Ohio).

He honored his campaign term limits pledge and did not seek re-election to a fourth term in 2000.

He was then succeeded by Jeff Flake.

Salmon was instrumental in obtaining the January 29, 2000, release of U.S.-based academic researcher Song Yongyi from detention in China on spying charges.

In 2002, he lost by less than 1% to Janet Napolitano in a highly competitive gubernatorial race.

He regained a congressional seat in the 2012 election.

On February 25, 2016, Salmon announced his retirement from politics.

In June 2016, Arizona State University announced that Salmon would join his undergraduate alma mater as vice president for government affairs in the office of government and community engagement.

In this position, Salmon oversees the university's local, state and federal relations teams.

He also holds a faculty appointment as a professor of practice in public affairs in the ASU College of Public Service & Community Solutions.

In April 2020, Salmon was named chairman of the nonprofit American Kratom Association.

He was a candidate in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election.

Salmon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Robert James Salmon and Gloria Aagard Salmon.

Salmon's maternal great-grandfather was born in Denmark.