Ruth Kagi (D‑32nd District: Shoreline, Seattle, Edmonds) to retire from the state House

Anoth­er senior mem­ber of the Wash­ing­ton State Leg­is­la­ture’s House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus has decid­ed to retire this year instead of seek­ing reelection.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ruth Kagi (D‑32nd Dis­trict: Shore­line, Seat­tle, Edmonds) announced today that this will be her last term in office. She joins Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Judy Clib­born (D‑41st Dis­trict: Mer­cer Island, Belle­vue, New­cas­tle) in say­ing adieu.

“The great­est hon­or of my life has been the oppor­tu­ni­ty to serve in the House as a cham­pi­on for chil­dren and fam­i­lies,” said Kagi in a news release.

“Ruth is the con­science of our cau­cus when it comes to chil­dren and fam­i­lies,” House Speak­er Frank Chopp said. “With her lead­er­ship, the Leg­is­la­ture changed the way the state views ear­ly learn­ing chal­lenges, trans­form­ing the way we address these issues from sep­a­rate com­po­nents to a holis­tic approach.”

“It’s been a long jour­ney, and I’m proud of the work we’ve accom­plished on a bi-par­ti­san basis,” Kagi said. “I will dear­ly miss my col­leagues and the excel­lent staff who work so dili­gent­ly to make Wash­ing­ton a bet­ter place to live.”

Kagi was first elect­ed to the House in 1999 and has served in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives for two decades. She has chaired the House Ear­ly Learn­ing and Human Ser­vices Com­mit­tee since 2002.

The House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus cit­ed Kag­i’s main accom­plish­ments as follows:

• In 2017, spear­head­ed the cre­ation of the Depart­ment of Chil­dren, Youth, and Fam­i­lies, which unit­ed pro­grams and ser­vices that had been scat­tered among oth­er state agencies.
• In 2015, spon­sored the Ear­ly Start Act ‚which expand­ed high qual­i­ty ear­ly learn­ing to thou­sands of Wash­ing­ton children.
• Led the effort in 2002 to reform the state’s drug sen­tenc­ing laws.

Kagi was among those Democ­rats who vot­ed in favor of bail­ing out char­ter schools after the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court ruled the ini­tia­tive that autho­rized them to be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, a vote that upset many of her constituents.

The 32nd is one of Wash­ing­ton’s bluer leg­isla­tive dis­tricts, so it is pos­si­ble that the con­test to replace Kagi could fea­ture two Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­dates run­ning against each oth­er in Novem­ber 2018. The dis­trict has many tal­ent­ed and able elect­ed lead­ers serv­ing at the city lev­el who may be inter­est­ed in leg­isla­tive service.