Michael Patrick Flanagan (born November 9, 1962) is a former captain in the United States Army, a practicing attorney, and a Republican Party politician from Chicago, Illinois.

Flanagan is best known for his victory over eighteen-term Congressman Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski in the 1994 United States midterm elections.

[3][4] The election result was a considerable upset, considering that Flanagan was, according to the Chicago Tribune, "a political neophyte who was underfunded, understaffed and unknown.

[7] Flanagan worked in Iraq for two years for the U.S. State Department, as part of a team sent to help set up democratic institutions in the country.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress