Lee, Mike, 1971
Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah. A Republican, Lee has served in the Senate since 2011.
Lee began his career as a clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah before clerking for Samuel Alito, who was then a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2002 to 2005, Lee was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Utah. He joined the administration of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, serving as the general counsel in the governor's office from 2005 to 2006. Lee again clerked for Alito after he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2010, during the Tea Party movement, Lee entered the party caucus process to challenge incumbent three-term Republican senator Bob Bennett. He defeated Bennett and business owner Tim Bridgewater during the nominating process at the Utah Republican Party convention. Lee won the Republican primary, and defeated Democratic nominee Sam Granato in the general election. He was reelected in 2016 and became the dean of Utah's congressional delegation when Representative Rob Bishop retired in January 2021. Lee chaired the Joint Economic Committee from 2019 to 2021.
Lee was born in Mesa, Arizona on June 4, 1971, the son of Janet (née Griffin) and Rex E. Lee. His family moved to Provo, Utah, one year later, when his father became the founding dean of Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School. While Lee spent about half of his childhood years in Utah, he spent the other half in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. His father served first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney General (overseeing the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during the Ford Administration) from 1975 until 1976, and then as the Solicitor General of the United States (charged with representing the U.S. government before the Supreme Court during the first term of the Reagan Administration). Lee is of English, Swiss, and Danish descent.
After graduating from Timpview High School in 1989, Lee attended Brigham Young University. He served as the president of BYUSA serving together with his father, who was then president of BYU. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Lee then attended BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he was a member of the BYU Law Review and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1997.
