Melanie A. Stambaugh (born September 25, 1990) is an American businesswoman and politician of the

Republican party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. At 24 years old, she became the youngest woman elected to the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

since 1936, when she defeated Democratic Representative

Dawn Morrell Lavonna Dawn Morrell (born July 30, 1949) is an American politician and nurse who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 25th Legislative District. She works as a critical care nurse at MultiCare Good Samaritan H ...

for a seat in the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

in 2014. She gave the Washington State Republican Party one of gains in the House in the 2014 election. She was the youngest member of the legislative chamber upon being sworn in.

Career

Stambaugh was re-elected to the

in 2016. Stambaugh was charged with 44 ethics violations for posting publicly-available multimedia content to her personal Facebook page. Ultimately, the Legislative Ethics Board fined her $5,000. On February 17, 2018, Stambaugh announced her retirement from the

, stating that she would not run for re-election later that year.

Personal life

Stambaugh was the 2009 Daffodil Queen in Pierce County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, which became a point of contention during her 2014 campaign. At the time, she was a senior at

Emerald Ridge High School Emerald Ridge High School is a high school in the Puyallup School District of Washington, United States and is commonly referred to as ERHS or simply ER. Emerald Ridge opened in September 2000. It features green, black and silver as its primary col ...

in South Hill.

References

1990 births Living people Politicians from Puyallup, Washington American beauty pageant winners Republican Party members of the Washington House of Representatives Women state legislators in Washington (state) 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Beauty queen-politicians {{Washington-politician-stub