Well-regard­ed State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kris­tine Reeves (D‑30th Dis­trict: Fed­er­al Way) announced this morn­ing in a video post­ed to her Face­book wall that she is resign­ing from the Wash­ing­ton State House to begin a new adven­ture that has to do with the oth­er Wash­ing­ton, mean­ing our nation’s capital.

“Even though we’ve accom­plished so much in this Wash­ing­ton, crit­i­cal pri­or­i­ties to our kids, to work­ing fam­i­lies, and to com­mu­ni­ties are under attack in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.  And that has to change. That’s why I’m ask­ing you to join me in the next phase of this fight,” Reeves says in the video’s clos­ing seconds.

She did not elab­o­rate fur­ther as to what she meant. But there is spec­u­la­tion on social media that an announce­ment about run­ning for Con­gress is immi­nent. Which would make sense. U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Den­ny Heck recent­ly announced his retire­ment, and if Reeves wants to be a full time can­di­date for his seat, step­ping down now allows a suc­ces­sor to be appoint­ed before the ses­sion begins.

Speak­er-des­ig­nate Lau­rie Jink­ins (D‑27th Dis­trict) said she’ll miss Reeves greatly.

“Dur­ing her time in the leg­is­la­ture, Kris­tine Reeves has been a tire­less advo­cate for Washington’s work­ing fam­i­lies, and a col­lab­o­ra­tive team play­er in the leg­isla­tive process,” Jink­ins said in a state­ment sent to NPI.

“Her work here has result­ed in bet­ter poli­cies that sup­port our state’s mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, vet­er­ans, and their fam­i­lies, and advanced our efforts to address the need for afford­able and acces­si­ble child­care for all.”

“I wish Kris­tine all the best as she moves on from the state House, and know she will con­tin­ue to be an impor­tant voice for our hard-work­ing families.”

In accor­dance with the Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion, the King and Pierce Coun­ty Coun­cils must appoint a suc­ces­sor to Reeves with­in two months. If they can­not agree, the respon­si­bil­i­ty to make an appoint­ment will pass to Gov­er­nor Inslee.

The new­ly appoint­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tive must be one of three nom­i­nees select­ed by the statu­to­ry Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (WSDCC), which con­sists of rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Wash­ing­ton’s thir­ty-nine counties.

The WSD­C­C’s rules del­e­gate the respon­si­bil­i­ty of cre­at­ing the list to the Demo­c­ra­t­ic precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers of the leg­isla­tive dis­trict where the vacan­cy exists, as area PCOs know their dis­trict best. Per those rules, a spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus will be called soon by State Par­ty Chair Tina Pod­lodows­ki of the 30th Dis­tric­t’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic PCOs. Once the PCOs have select­ed three indi­vid­u­als who could take Reeves’ place in the House, the list will be sent to the WSDCC for rat­i­fi­ca­tion (a for­mal­i­ty) and then trans­mit­ted to the King and Pierce Coun­ty Councils.

Reeves is the sec­ond mem­ber of the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus to resign dur­ing the inter­im; the first was Jeff Mor­ris (D‑40th Dis­trict), who has tak­en a new job. Mor­ris resigned before Thanks­giv­ing. That vacan­cy will be filled using the same pro­ce­dure described above, except that the What­com Coun­ty Coun­cil, the San Juan Coun­ty Com­mis­sion, and the Skag­it Coun­ty Com­mis­sion will be mak­ing the appoint­ment, because the 40th Dis­trict is locat­ed in North­west Washington.

Our team at NPI thanks Kris­tine Reeves for her ser­vice to the peo­ple of the 30th and the State of Wash­ing­ton, and we wish her well in her next adventure.