Michael Darr Barnes represented the eighth district of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987.
Education
Barnes attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. He graduated from Principia High School in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1962. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity.
He attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland from 1965 to 1966.
He attained his Juris Doctor from George Washington University in 1972.
Career
Born in Washington, District of Columbia to John P. Barnes former general counsel to C & P Telephone Company, and Vernon South. Barnes. Barnes moved to Chevy Chase in Montgomery County Maryland at age 13. Barnes served on the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Barnes served as executive director of the 1976 Democratic party platform committee.
Barnes served in both private and government practice until his election to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1978. During the first session of the 99th Congress, he was the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
As a member of Congress, Barnes was an outspoken critic of Ronald Reagan"s Central America policy. In 1986, Barnes lost the Democratic nomination for United States. Senator from Maryland to Barbara Mikulski and retired to private legal practice.
Prior to his service in Congress, Barnes was a Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission and Vice Chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission.
From 2000 through 2006, he served as president of the Brady Campaign. Barnes was Senior Of Counsel in the Washington, District of Columbia, law firm of Covington & Burling. He retired as senior counsel at Covington & Burling Limited Liability Partnership in December 2010.
Barnes joined the Metro Board in April 2011 as Principal Director representing Montgomery County and the State of Maryland.
He is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, District of Columbia.
Membership
Following his congressional service, Barnes was President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Chair of the Center for National Policy, Chair of the Governor"s Commission on Growth in the Chesapeake Bay Region and a member of the Boards of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, University of Maryland Foundation, Center for International Policy, Public Voice, and the Overseas Development Council. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity.