Washington State Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D) of the Swinomish Tribe, the first Native American woman to ever be elected to the state’s House of Representatives, was sworn into office wearing traditional clothing on Monday, January 14, 2019. Along with Rep. Jeff Morris, they will serve in the State House.
Contact for our legislators can be found at www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/.
Following the resignation of State Senator Kevin Ranker, the Democratic district caucus will nominate a replacement. If not filled within 30 days, the Governor may assign a replacement, according to the state legislative website.
Debra Lekanoff is going to be a fantastic representative for our county and district. She has prepared by meeting with constituents from around the district; this past Saturday she held a roundtable discussion with leaders of various entities from around the county such as the various county advisory committees, OPALCO, council and planning commission members, housing advocates, public schools, and more. Debra listened intently, took notes, asked for attendees to send her information, and will use all this in Olympia. She is ready to hit the ground running representing all of us.
As to the procedure for filling our senate position, the chair of the state Democratic Party will be calling a meeting of PCOs (precinct committee officers, all of whom were elected by the public in the August primary last year) within the 40th legislative district (all of San Juan and most of Whatcom and Skagit County). Note that it is the Democratic PCOs taking this action because the resigning senator was occupying the seat as a Democrat. The PCOs will come to agreement on three names to submit to the county councils of the three relevant counties. The county councils will then vote on these three nominees. Each council gets three votes, so the size of the counties does not matter. Should a sitting county councilor be one of those nominees, s/he must recuse him/herself from the vote. Hopefully we will have someone representing us in that seat shortly.
David Turnoy
Chair, San Juan County Democrats
Thanks for the clear explanation David.