LIVE from Seattle: Special nominating caucus to replace Pramila Jayapal in 37th underway

Good evening from Seat­tle. I’m here at the Rainier Arts Cen­ter, where the Demo­c­ra­t­ic precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers of the 37th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict are gath­ered to draw up a list of can­di­dates to suc­ceed U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive-elect Prami­la Jaya­pal, who has sub­mit­ted her res­ig­na­tion effec­tive Decem­ber 11th, 2016.

Because Prami­la is head­ing to the Oth­er Wash­ing­ton to rep­re­sent Washington;s 7th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, a vacan­cy now exists for state sen­a­tor in the 37th. The Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion stip­u­lates that the process for fill­ing a Demo­c­ra­t­ic leg­isla­tive vacan­cy begins with the nam­ing of three can­di­dates from the same dis­trict and of the same par­ty by the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (WSDCC) or the rel­e­vant coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic cen­tral committee.

The WSDCC, of which I am a mem­ber, spec­i­fies in its bylaws that when a vacan­cy is declared, the coun­ty or state par­ty chair shall call a spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus of precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers from that dis­trict for the pur­pose of draw­ing up a list of three names to rec­om­mend to the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for its consideration.

That’s what’s hap­pen­ing tonight. I will be updat­ing this post at peri­od­ic inter­vals to sum­ma­rize the pro­ceed­ings that are tak­ing place.

7:45 PM: The names of eight can­di­dates have been placed into nomination.

• Shasti Con­rad
• Juan Cot­to
• Jesse Wein­ber­ry
• Rory O’Sullivan
• Rebec­ca Saldaña
• Bob Rosen­berg­er
• John Stafford
• She­ley Secrest

The South Seat­tle Emer­ald has a primer on all the can­di­dates.

Rebec­ca Sal­daña is Prami­la Jaya­pal’s choice for the job.

8 PM: Jesse Wein­ber­ry has with­drawn his name from con­sid­er­a­tion after using his five min­utes to com­plain that only new­ly-elect­ed precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers for 2017–2018 are allowed to vote in this caucus.

8:41 PM: The first round of vot­ing has been com­plet­ed and the results announced. 81 bal­lots were cast and 1 of those was spoiled.

• Jesse Wein­ber­ry: 1 vote
• She­ley Secrest: 2 votes
• Juan Cot­to: 3 votes
• Bob Rosen­berg­er: 5 votes
• John Stafford: 6 votes
• Shasti Con­rad: 7 votes
• Rebec­ca Sal­daña: 28 votes
• Rory O’Sul­li­van: 30 votes

8:54 PM: A runoff was held to deter­mine who would be ranked first on the list of three. The results of the runoff were as follows:

• Rebec­ca Sal­daña: 35 votes
• Rory O’Sul­li­van: 46 votes

Rory’s name will appear first on the list of three names.

9:14 PM: A third round of bal­lot­ing, to deter­mine the sec­ond name on the list, has just been com­plet­ed. 78 bal­lots were cast in the third round of vot­ing (with none spoiled) and these were the results: