This after­noon, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus of the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives announced that its mem­bers have cho­sen State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lau­rie Jink­ins of Taco­ma to be the next Speak­er of the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, suc­ceed­ing Frank Chopp (D‑43rd Dis­trict: Seattle).

Lau­rie Jink­ins shares a laugh with Frank Chopp after being intro­duced as the Speak­er-des­ig­nate (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/Northwest Pro­gres­sive Institute)

Jink­ins will for­mal­ly assume office in Jan­u­ary when the Leg­is­la­ture recon­venes for its short ses­sion and she is elect­ed Speak­er by the House­’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic major­i­ty. Until then, she will be the Speak­er-des­ig­nate.

“I first ran for pub­lic office because I want­ed to make sure all fam­i­lies have the same oppor­tu­ni­ties for suc­cess,” said Jink­ins in a statement.

“Wash­ing­ton con­tin­ues to rank among the top states to live, work, and do busi­ness in large part due to the for­ward-think­ing poli­cies adopt­ed by the Leg­is­la­ture over the last twen­ty years. We made sure all kids have access to health care regard­less of fam­i­ly income. We have some of the best col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties in the nation. And we sup­port fam­i­lies by embrac­ing mar­riage equal­i­ty, paid fam­i­ly leave, equal pay, and many oth­er polices.”

“I want every fam­i­ly to have the same oppor­tu­ni­ties my fam­i­ly has had, and that vision will be the guid­ing force dur­ing my ser­vice as Speaker.”

“I thank my col­leagues for their con­fi­dence. This will be the most chal­leng­ing job I’ll ever have but I am hum­bled and buoyed by the sup­port of mem­bers of this cau­cus. For twen­ty years, we’ve worked togeth­er to improve qual­i­ty of life on behalf of the peo­ple of Wash­ing­ton and House Democ­rats are com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing that work for com­mu­ni­ties and fam­i­lies all across the state.”

“Con­grat­u­la­tions to Speak­er-elect Jink­ins on her well-deserved and his­toric elec­tion to serve as the new House speak­er,” said Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee.

“I’ve appre­ci­at­ed Laurie’s ongo­ing part­ner­ship in behav­ioral health and health care, her pas­sion­ate work on behalf of hard-work­ing fam­i­lies and chil­dren, and her com­mit­ment to advanc­ing civ­il rights for all Washingtonians.

“Lau­rie will be instru­men­tal in shap­ing the next chap­ters of Washington’s his­to­ry. I look for­ward to work­ing with her as we con­tin­ue to grow our econ­o­my and help every Wash­ing­ton­ian be part of our success.”

“As an accom­plished leg­is­la­tor and the first woman to hold the posi­tion, she will bring a vital per­spec­tive to lead­er­ship in the Wash­ing­ton State Leg­is­la­ture,” said Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Andy Bil­lig, Jink­ins’ coun­ter­part across the rotunda.

“I’ve enjoyed a pro­duc­tive work­ing rela­tion­ship with Lau­rie since we joined the House togeth­er in 2011. She has a long record of fight­ing for leg­is­la­tion that puts our state on the path of pros­per­i­ty by cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for everybody.

“I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with the House lead­er­ship team to put peo­ple first and make Wash­ing­ton the best place to live, work and raise a family.”

All fifty-sev­en mem­bers of the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus par­tic­i­pat­ed in the vot­ing for the new Speak­er at a meet­ing in SeaT­ac. Under the cau­cus rules, the win­ning can­di­date had to have the sup­port of an absolute major­i­ty of the cau­cus — twen­ty-nine votes. A total of four women can­di­dates sought the posi­tion: State Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Gael Tar­leton of Seat­tle (an NPI board­mem­ber), Mon­i­ca Jura­do Stonier of Van­cou­ver, June Robin­son of Sno­homish Coun­ty, and Jinkins.

Jink­ins has rep­re­sent­ed the 27th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict (in Pierce Coun­ty) for many years. Pri­or to win­ning this elec­tion, she chaired the Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee in the House, and was piv­otal in advanc­ing leg­is­la­tion to final­ly abol­ish the death penal­ty — a cause that our team has col­lab­o­rat­ed with her on.

A year ago, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jink­ins spoke at our press con­fer­ence with Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son to unveil our find­ing that 69% of Wash­ing­to­ni­ans sup­port life in prison alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty. Her com­ments were fea­tured as part of the evening report that KIRO7 aired on the press conference.

Two years ago, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jink­ins joined our team in Atlanta to par­tic­i­pate in a pan­el that I orga­nized to dis­cuss state leg­is­la­tures and leg­isla­tive con­tests. State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Renit­ta Shan­non and State Sen­a­tor Nan Orrock, both of Geor­gia, joined us for that dis­cus­sion, which was a high­light of Net­roots Nation 2017.

Lau­rie is a com­mit­ted cham­pi­on for count­less pro­gres­sive caus­es who brings a strong work eth­ic to the table. She is well spo­ken, and well orga­nized. Our team is con­fi­dent she will be a strong and capa­ble Speak­er for Wash­ing­ton State.

We extend our con­grat­u­la­tions to Lau­rie and her fam­i­ly. We look for­ward to work­ing togeth­er as the 2020 leg­isla­tive ses­sion approaches.