LIVE from Tacoma: Washington’s PLEO national delegates have been chosen

Good after­noon from Taco­ma. Today is the third day of the 2016 Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Con­ven­tion, the last event in the state par­ty’s cau­cus and con­ven­tion cycle for this year. Com­mit­tee meet­ings and con­stituen­cy cau­cus­es were held on Fri­day along with the gala ban­quet; the gen­er­al ses­sion was held yes­ter­day along with the state lead­ers break­fast, and today, the leg­isla­tive mem­bers of the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee are com­plet­ing the state’s nation­al del­e­ga­tion by select­ing the PLEO and at-large delegates.

The acronym PLEO stands for Par­ty Leader and Elect­ed Offi­cial. Indi­vid­u­als who serve in par­ty lead­er­ship roles or are Democ­rats who hold elect­ed posi­tions of pub­lic respon­si­bil­i­ty (like may­ors, state leg­is­la­tors, or trib­al coun­cilmem­bers) are eli­gi­ble to run for PLEO del­e­gate posi­tions and be elected.

Wash­ing­ton State has a total of twelve PLEO posi­tions this year. Based on the out­come of the May 21st con­gres­sion­al dis­trict cau­cus­es (and the April 17th/May 1st leg­isla­tive and March 26th precinct cau­cus­es before that) nine of those posi­tions go to Bernie Sanders, while three go to Hillary Clinton.

The bal­lot lists were sup­plied by the cam­paigns (who have, under par­ty rules, a right of review) and the final selec­tions were made by the leg­isla­tive mem­bers Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (of which I am a member).

Here a com­plete list of the win­ners, sort­ed by vote totals.

PLEOs for Hillary Clinton

1. King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Constantine
2. State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lau­rie Jink­ins (D‑27th District)
3. King Coun­ty Coun­cilmem­ber Jeanne Kohl-Welles (4th District)

PLEOs for Bernie Sanders

1. State Sen­a­tor Bob Hasegawa (D‑11th District)
2. State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Noel Frame (D‑36th District)
3. Yaki­ma Coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic Chair Susan Palmer
4. Dean McGrath, Pres­i­dent of ILWU Local 23
5. Thurston Coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic Chair Katrin Nelson
6. Nicole Willis, Native Amer­i­can Pol­i­cy Advis­er to Bernie Sanders
7. Pat­sy White­foot, WSDCC (Com­mit­teemem­ber for 14th LD)
8. Sequim Precinct Com­mit­tee Offi­cer Andrew Shogren
9. Nick­o­laus Lewis, Lum­mi Indi­an Busi­ness Coun­cil Member

Con­grat­u­la­tions to the above twelve new­ly cho­sen mem­bers of Wash­ing­ton State’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion delegation.

WSDCC leg­isla­tive mem­bers must now choose the at-large del­e­gates for Clin­ton and Sanders. Once these selec­tions are made, the del­e­ga­tion will be complete.