Matheson carrying his family's banner

When you listen to Rep. Jim Matheson discuss his life in the U.S. House — the long plane rides each week to and from Washington, D.C., the missed moments with his young son, the absent family events — you may wonder why he wants this job.

But for Matheson, 44, the work is not just about the people he meets and, if he can, helps. There is also another motive here: A family flag picked up and carried forward.

Matheson was just 30 when his father, the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, died in 1990. "It will be 14 years next month," Matheson says immediately upon being asked what it meant to him to lose his father so relatively early.

"I'm glad that I came back here after graduate school" at UCLA, Matheson says, looking back on the loss. "I got three years with him — I got to know him as an adult, a different relationship than being someone's son, he being (my) father."

Losing a father is one thing Matheson and his GOP opponent, John Swallow, share. Swallow's father died when he was only 10.

It's common among politically active families for children of famous politicians to be encouraged to run. Matheson serves with two such examples — Reps. Tom and Mark Udall, D-N.M., and D-Colo., respectively, are the sons of Stewart and Morris Udall, two Arizona brothers who both served in the U.S. House and other top political posts.

But being mentioned as a possible candidate and actually running and winning doesn't happen often. Matheson has done it. And this year his older brother, Scott Matheson Jr., seeks Utah's governorship.

Family, politics

Rep. Matheson has been around politics since his father first ran for office in 1976. Jim Matheson managed the late Wayne Owens' unsuccessful gubernatorial race in 1984. He was going to run for the 2nd District in 1998 but gave way to Democrat Lily Eskelsen. He announced early for the 2000 race and easily won the Democratic nomination.

"I miss him," Matheson says of his father. "He's not there when we all go over to my mom's house for a family gathering."

Living close to family is important to Matheson. In fact, he, wife Amy and 6-year-old son Will moved from their upper Avenues home last year into what he jokingly calls the "Matheson neighborhood," just below Hogle Zoo on the city's east side. His sister lives nearby, as do aunts and uncles. Brother Scott lives down the road in the Harvard-Yale area.