Rosemary McAuliffe speaking
Rosemary McAuliffe speaking. By rtpayneS09, CC BY-SA 2.0

Long­time edu­ca­tion cham­pi­on Rose­mary McAu­li­ffe (D‑1st Dis­trict: Both­ell, Kirk­land, Clearview) announced today in a press release that she has decid­ed not to seek reelec­tion in 2016, end­ing a decades-long career in the Leg­is­la­ture that began with her vic­to­ry in the “Year of the Woman” in 1992.

“It has been an hon­or and a priv­i­lege to serve the peo­ple of the 1st Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict for twen­ty-three years. While I have decid­ed to fin­ish out this year and not seek re-elec­tion, I will with­out a doubt con­tin­ue to be involved in my com­mu­ni­ties.” said McAu­li­ffe, adding: “I appre­ci­ate the sup­port of my com­mu­ni­ty. It is now time to come home and be with friends and fam­i­ly, and with my hus­band Jim. I am excit­ed about future plans, what­ev­er they may be. It has tru­ly been an hon­or to serve.”

McAu­li­f­fe’s col­leagues laud­ed her service.

“Just saw the news that my friend and col­league Rose­mary McAu­li­ffe is retir­ing,” said Sen­a­tor Marko Liias of the 21st Dis­trict. “She has always had a heart for kids, and she has nev­er for­got­ten that we need excel­lent teach­ers to get them the edu­ca­tion they deserve. Thanks for a long record of great work.”

“It’s been a real plea­sure to work with Sen­a­tor Rose­mary McAu­li­ffe for our shared con­stituents in the 1st Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict, most recent­ly to pro­tect the Wayne Golf Course for habi­tat and open space in per­pe­tu­ity,” said Coun­cilmem­ber Rod Dem­bows­ki. “She’s been a long­time cham­pi­on for kids and edu­ca­tion; her lead­er­ship and advo­ca­cy for our con­stituents will be missed.”

McAu­li­f­fe’s seat­mate, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Luis Moscoso, announced he will run to take McAu­li­f­fe’s place in the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate — with her bless­ing. Here’s his let­ter to Demo­c­ra­t­ic activists in the 1st District:

Dear Friends:

I want you to be the first to know that I’ll be announc­ing my can­di­da­cy for the Sen­ate tomor­row. I am pleased to have the endorse­ments of Sen­a­tor McAu­li­ffe and my seat mate Derek Stan­ford. Thank you both for believ­ing in me.

I look for­ward to work­ing with all of you in a my cam­paign. This will be a his­toric ven­ture and I will need all your help to suc­ceed. I want to be sure to car­ry for­ward the work Sen­a­tor McAu­li­ffe has so ably done for the 1st LD this past quar­ter century.

Much of the leg­is­la­tion I’m already deeply involved in; like the Wash­ing­ton Vot­ing Rights Act, Pub­lic Safe­ty and Prison Reform, and a myr­i­ad of trans­porta­tion con­cerns, will be major cam­paign issues for us here in the 1st LD.

Our Demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues and prin­ci­ples will be test­ed in this Pres­i­den­tial elec­tion year. And I know we can pre­vail with your help. Thanks again for all your sup­port these past 6 years in the House as well as the encour­age­ment you’ve giv­en me since 2001 when you first elect­ed me as Sno­homish Coun­ty Male Del­e­gate from the LD.

¡Si se puede!

~ Luis

Moscoso will be giv­ing up his House seat to run for the Sen­ate, which means there’s an open­ing for an aspir­ing leader at the local lev­el to move on up as well.

The 1st is a fair­ly Demo­c­ra­t­ic dis­trict, and elect­ed Moscoso hand­i­ly in a tough year for Democ­rats… so he ought to be able to hold McAu­li­f­fe’s seat, and the par­ty should be able to hold on to his House seat as well.

We at NPI thank Sen­a­tor McAu­li­ffe for her many years of ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic ser­vice. She’s been in the Leg­is­la­ture for over two decades, and was a Northshore School Board mem­ber before that. She has always been a depend­able advo­cate for stu­dents, par­ents, and teach­ers, work­ing to sup­port Wash­ing­ton’s youth and the hard­work­ing pro­fes­sion­als com­mit­ted to their well-being. She leaves behind a pos­i­tive lega­cy in the state­house.  We wish her all the best.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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