Community Government

With Randall on her way to Congress, who replaces her in the Legislature?

Although Election Day has passed, Democrats in Washington’s 26th Legislative District are gearing up for another few weeks of quasi-campaigning as they decide who should replace state Sen. Emily Randall.

Randall, D-Bremerton, won election to Congress during Tuesday’s general election. She will resign as senator representing the 26th Legislative District, which includes Gig Harbor, the Key Peninsula, South Kitsap and part of Bremerton.

Randall earned 57.3% of the vote in the Sixth Congressional District, defeating Republican state Sen. Drew MacEwen of Shelton. Randall will become the first woman to represent the Sixth District in its 90-year history.

Emily Randall

The process

Members of the 26th District Democratic Party now will nominate three candidates to replace her through an esoteric political process outlined in the state constitution.

“We’re following the rules,” said Thomas Slyter, chair of the 26th District Democrats. “It’s a democratic process.”

Since Randall, a Democrat, holds the seat, her party gets to nominate its preferred candidate.

Discussion and some campaigning is already underway, but the selection process begins in earnest next month. About 30 Democratic precinct committee officers — low-level, elected party officials —  from the 26th Legislative District will meet on Dec. 8, Slyter said.

Committee officers will nominate candidates at that meeting. Through a voting process, they will create a list of three names to submit to the district’s county legislative bodies: the Pierce County Council and Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.

Via a joint vote, the three-member commission and seven-member council will appoint one of the three candidates to the seat. Since Pierce County Council has more members, its councilmembers’ votes will be worth three-sevenths, giving equal weight to both counties.  

If the council and commission can’t reach a majority within 60 days of the vacancy occurring, the governor has 30 days to make an appointment.

Slyter said they expect to have someone in office before the 2025 legislative session begins on Jan. 13.

Who could be nominated

Democrat precinct committee officers can nominate most residents of the 26th District, but candidates will need broad support to make the final short list.

Slyter said three candidates have expressed interest in filling the seat: Laurel Kingsbury, Deb Krishnadasan and Renee Hernandez Greenfield.

Kingsbury is a PE teacher and commissioner for the PenMet Park District in Gig Harbor. Krishnadasan is a former Peninsula School Board member and founder of Stand Up for Peninsula Schools. Hernandez Greenfield is a health professional and adjunct professor at Tacoma Community College.

Adison Richards, a Democrat elected Tuesday to a House seat representing the 26th District, announced on Facebook that he will not be a candidate.

“I’m not interested in immediately getting another job,” Richards wrote. “If the results hold and the people send me to the State House, then that is where I want to be, it’s what I ran for, and I will do my best for our community in that role.

Whoever is appointed to the seat would serve until a special election in fall 2025. The position will be up for election again in 2026, its normal cycle.

Has this happened before?

A nearly identical situation played out in 2012, after current Sixth District Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, was elected. Kilmer was the 26th District’s senator at the time and surrendered his seat after winning federal office.

In his place, local officials selected Nathan Schlicher, an emergency room doctor and past president of the Washington Medical Association. Schlicher served one year in the Legislature. Republican Jan Angel defeated him in a special election in November 2013.