Washington State Senate Democrats select Andy Billig as their new Majority Leader

Wash­ing­ton State’s new­ly expand­ed Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus has a new leader.

Andy Bil­lig of Spokane — who rep­re­sents the 3rd Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict and is the cham­ber’s sole Demo­c­rat hail­ing from east of the Cas­cades — has been select­ed by his col­leagues to be the new Major­i­ty Leader, suc­ceed­ing Sharon Nel­son (D‑34th Dis­trict). Nel­son is retir­ing from the Leg­is­la­ture after many years of service.

“I’m extreme­ly eager to build on the suc­cess we had in 2018,” said Bil­lig in a state­ment released by the cau­cus. “I am hum­bled to lead this diverse and tal­ent­ed group of sen­a­tors. This cau­cus rec­og­nizes that bipar­ti­san­ship and view­points from every cor­ner of Wash­ing­ton are cru­cial in mov­ing our state forward.”

“We wel­come new mem­bers whose ener­gy and pas­sion will help Sen­ate Democ­rats con­tin­ue to put peo­ple first and tack­le the issues Wash­ing­to­ni­ans care about most – afford­able health care, tax fair­ness, pub­lic edu­ca­tion, men­tal health, pub­lic safe­ty from gun vio­lence, cli­mate change, and more.”

Bil­lig’s pre­de­ces­sor Lisa Brown also served as Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader pri­or to her retire­ment in 2012. Brown recent­ly ran for Con­gress in Wash­ing­ton’s 5th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, gal­va­niz­ing the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty in East­ern Wash­ing­ton and giv­ing entrenched Repub­li­can Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers her first cred­i­ble challenge.

Bil­lig joined the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate in 2013 after vot­ers in the 3rd chose him to take over for Brown. He had pre­vi­ous­ly served a sin­gle term in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. He has been a part of Sen­ate lead­er­ship for sev­er­al years and served as the Deputy Major­i­ty Leader pri­or to his ele­va­tion to the top post today.

Bil­lig has cham­pi­oned trans­paren­cy and open gov­ern­ment dur­ing his time in the Leg­is­la­ture, spon­sor­ing bills to expose dark mon­ey (like the DISCLOSE Act, approved ear­li­er this year) and improve Wash­ing­ton’s pub­lic dis­clo­sure laws.

Nel­son praised Bil­lig’s selec­tion, express­ing her con­fi­dence in his abilities.

“Dur­ing his eight years at the Leg­is­la­ture, Andy has shown time and time again his com­pas­sion and com­mit­ment to Wash­ing­to­ni­ans,” Nel­son said.

“He has served as the Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cau­cus Deputy Leader since 2015, and has the lead­er­ship skills and the dri­ve to move our cau­cus forward.”

“Andy has proven his com­mit­ment to pro­gres­sive val­ues through his work on edu­ca­tion, cam­paign trans­paren­cy and water qual­i­ty. I am leav­ing the Sen­ate in good hands with a major­i­ty leader who will tru­ly put peo­ple first.”

NPI con­grat­u­lates Andy Bil­lig on his new respon­si­bil­i­ties. We look for­ward to work­ing with him and the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate to reform our tax code and expand edu­ca­tion fund­ing for our K‑12 schools, col­leges, and universities.