10th LD’s Ron Muzzall appointed to succeed Barbara Bailey in Washington State Senate

An Island Coun­ty farmer who is a new­com­er to state pol­i­tics has been unan­i­mous­ly cho­sen to take the place of Bar­bara Bai­ley in the Wash­ing­ton State fol­low­ing Bai­ley’s res­ig­na­tion, which was effec­tive Sep­tem­ber 30th.

Ron Muz­za­ll, fifty-six, was appoint­ed to serve out the remain­der of Bai­ley’s unex­pired term rep­re­sent­ing the 10th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict at a joint meet­ing of the Island and Skag­it Coun­ty Com­mis­sions and the Sno­homish Coun­ty Council.

Muz­za­ll, the man­ag­er of 3 Sis­ters Fam­i­ly Farms on Whid­bey Island, was one of three nom­i­nees select­ed by the Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­can Cen­tral Com­mit­tee. The oth­ers were Chris­tine Cribb, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Oak Har­bor Cham­ber of Com­merce, and Sarah Hyatt, a co-own­er of Hyatt Construction.

The farm, which is owned by the Muz­za­ll fam­i­ly, describes itself as “a mul­ti-gen­er­a­tional farm, with the 4th, 5th & 6th gen­er­a­tions active. Locat­ed on beau­ti­ful Whid­bey Island since 1910, we spe­cial­ize in all nat­ur­al beef, pork, lamb & chick­ens.” The farm spans approx­i­mate­ly six hun­dred acres. It is not open to the pub­lic, but school/group tours can be reserved by mak­ing an appointment.

“Well, now you know what I have been up to for the last cou­ple months,” Muz­za­ll said in a post­ing on his Face­book wall reflect­ing on his appoint­ment.

“It start­ed in ear­ly August when we became aware that our state Sen­a­tor was step­ping down. I was hum­bled to be asked by some for­mer coun­ty com­mis­sion­ers to con­sid­er sub­mit­ting my name for the appoint­ment. Six peo­ple sub­mit­ted their names [to the Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­can Par­ty] and I was select­ed num­ber one. Then the com­mis­sion­ers from two coun­ties and the coun­ty coun­cil from the third coun­ty [Sno­homish] inter­viewed the top three and sub­mit­ted questions.”

“This after­noon, they asked more ques­tions and then vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to appoint me [as a] Wash­ing­ton State Sen­a­tor. I will have to run in 2020. I am hum­bled and thank­ful for the sup­port giv­en by every­one involved. Thank you all!”

Muz­za­ll, who signs many of his social media posts with the moniker “The Hap­py Farmer,” grad­u­at­ed from Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty in 1986 with a bach­e­lor’s degree in agri­cul­tur­al mech­a­niza­tion. He has served on the boards of Land O’Lakes, the well known farmer’s coop­er­a­tive, and Skag­it Farm­ers Supply.

He has also been a com­mis­sion­er for North Whid­bey Fire & Rescue.

Muz­za­ll is expect­ed to face Demo­c­ra­t­ic Island Coun­ty Com­mis­sion­er Helen Price John­son next year when the posi­tion he now holds is nor­mal­ly con­test­ed. Price John­son recused her­self from the vote to appoint Muz­za­ll, cit­ing her candidacy.

The 10th is a swing leg­isla­tive dis­trict that is one of the few left in Wash­ing­ton that sends a mix­ture of Democ­rats and Repub­li­cans to Olympia. Aside from Muz­za­ll, it is cur­rent­ly rep­re­sent­ed by Repub­li­can Nor­ma Smith and Demo­c­rat Dave Paul. From 2013 until this year, it had an all Republican-delegation.

Democ­rats won a com­pet­i­tive House race in the 10th last year with Paul and now believe they can reclaim the Sen­ate seat that once belonged to Mary Mar­garet Hau­gen, a fix­ture of the Sen­ate who chaired the Trans­porta­tion Com­mit­tee before the Rod­ney Tom error. Hau­gen was deci­sive­ly defeat­ed by Bai­ley in 2012.

Smith opt­ed to remain in the House instead of seek the Sen­ate appointment.

Bar­bara Bai­ley most recent­ly served on the Health & Long Term Care Com­mit­tee, the  State Gov­ern­ment, Trib­al Rela­tions & Elec­tions Com­mit­tee, and the pow­er­ful Ways & Means Com­mit­tee. How­ev­er, with Muz­za­ll now on board, the Sen­ate Repub­li­cans may choose to reshuf­fle a few com­mit­tee assign­ments so that he can put his exper­tise in agri­cul­ture to good use as a sen­a­tor. The Sen­ate has an Agri­cul­ture, Water, Nat­ur­al Resources & Parks Com­mit­tee, chaired by Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Kevin Van De Wege of the 24th Leg­isla­tive District.

Con­grat­u­la­tions on your appoint­ment, Sen­a­tor Muz­za­ll, and best wish­es for the com­ing 2020 leg­isla­tive ses­sion that begins in a few months.