Rick Baxter

Infobox Celebrity
name = Rick Isaiah Baxter


imagesize =
caption = Rick Baxter official portrait
birth_date = birth date and age|1979|07|18
birth_place = flagicon | USA Jackson County U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Businessman, Politician, and Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party
spouse = Erica Ann
children = Isaac Isaiah, Rachel Ann, & Seth Alexander
Web site =

Rick Baxter is a businessman and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He currently is the Business Development Director for his family's company Baxter Machine & Tool Co., Inc. in Jackson, Michigan.

Baxter's previous positions have been the chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party, District Director for Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI) (2007), Republican State Representative in the Michigan House of Representatives (2005 - 2006), County Commissioner for Jackson County, Michigan (2003 - 2004), and holding several positions, most recently as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), for Baxter Machine & Tool Co., Inc. (1997 - 2004).

Baxter also volunteers as a guest speaker at his local church and has served as their Treasurer since 2005.

Rick Baxter is a graduate of Lenawee Christian schools in Adrian, Michigan (1997) and received his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) from Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan (2003).

Elections & Public Service

Baxter's first campaign was in 2002 when he ran for the Jackson County (Michigan) Commission. He defeated the two-term incumbent Republican county commissioner in the primary and went on to win the seat, unopposed, in November.

In 2004, Baxter ran for an open seat for State Representative. He defeated two other Republicans in the primary. Baxter went on to win a very tight general election, winning by 358 votes out of a total of 37,714.

For his next re-election, in 2006, he was challenged in the primary by a formally defeated fellow Republican. Baxter easily defeated him with over 65% of the vote but went on to lose his re-election bid in the general. Both parties combined spent almost 1.5 million dollars for their candidates in 2006.

Party Chair

Baxter served as chair of the Jackson County Republican Party from 2007 to 2008. During that time he completely reorganized the local party by rewriting their by-laws and consolidating their committees to be more broad and effective. In his first major act as county chair he secured Karl Rove as the keynote speaker for the party's major fundraiser of the year, the Lincoln Day Dinner. Under Baxter's leadership the event raised over $20,000, well over double what any preceding Lincoln Day event had raised.

In 2008 he has started to organize the Party to work more closely with candidates, at all levels, to share costs, strategies, and resources. In 2008 Baxter also secured the Acting Administrator of the US Small Business Administration, Jovita Carranza, as the county party's keynote speaker for their annual Lincoln Day fundraiser. In June 2008, Baxter resigned his position as chair to run for Jackson County Treasurer.

Businessman

Baxter's business career started after he graduated in 1997 from Lenawee Christian schools in Adrian, Michigan. He began working in the summer of 1997 as a CAD Tech/Accounting Assistant and worked his way up to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2003. He left the company at the end of 2004 to become State Representative.

In October 2007 he left his position as District Director for Congressman Tim Walberg to rejoin the family business as their Business Development Director. In this position he handles Baxter Machine's business development, sales, and customer relations.

Electoral history

*2006 State House (64) General Election
**Rick Baxter (R), 47.4%
**Martin Griffin (D), 52.6%

*2006 State House (64) Primary Election
**Rick Baxter (R), 65.3%
**Bob Ross (R), 34.7%

*2004 State House (64) General Election
**Rick Baxter (R), 49.8%
**Martin Griffin (D), 48.8%
**Bob Ross Write-In, 1.3%

*2004 State House (64) Primary Election
**Rick Baxter (R), 44.3%
**Bob Ross (R), 28.8%
**Jon Williams (R), 26.8%

*2002 Jackson County Commission (05) Primary Election
**Rick Baxter (R), 40.2%
**Alan Miltich (R), 32.4%
**Judy Reynolds (R), 23.0%
**Trish O'Shea (R), 4.4%