State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Joe Fitzgib­bon (D‑34th Dis­trict: West Seat­tle, Vashon Island) has been cho­sen as the new Major­i­ty Leader of the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus announced today.

Lau­rie Jink­ins (D‑27th Dis­trict: Taco­ma) remains Speak­er, Mon­i­ca Stonier (D‑49th Dis­trict: Van­cou­ver) remains Major­i­ty Floor Leader, and Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lil­lian Ortiz-Self (D‑21st Dis­trict: Sno­homish Coun­ty) remains the Major­i­ty Cau­cus Chair.

Alex Ramel (D‑40th Dis­trict) is tak­ing over for Mar­cus Ric­cel­li (D‑3rd Dis­trict) as Major­i­ty Whip. Tina Orwall (D‑33rd Dis­trict) and Dan Bronoske (D‑28th Dis­trict) remain Speak­er Pro Tem­pore and Deputy Speak­er Pro Tem­pore, respectively.

“The peo­ple of Wash­ing­ton have again cho­sen Democ­rats to lead in our state Leg­is­la­ture, and our cau­cus is ready to get to work on their behalf,” Speak­er Jink­ins (who suc­ceed­ed Frank Chopp in 2019) said in a statement.

“I want to thank my col­leagues for their con­tin­ued trust and con­fi­dence in me. More than ever, our cau­cus is reflec­tive of the many diverse com­mu­ni­ties that make up this great state, and that ulti­mate­ly makes the work we do better.”

Fitzgib­bon is the high­est pro­file new addi­tion to the cau­cus’ lead­er­ship team. He replaces Pat Sul­li­van (D‑47th Dis­trict: South King Coun­ty) who retired from the House this year. First elect­ed in 2004, Sul­li­van had been Major­i­ty Leader since 2010, work­ing along­side for­mer Speak­er Chopp for about ten years.

Fitzgib­bon joined the Wash­ing­ton State House in 2010. Pri­or to that, he had been a leg­isla­tive assis­tant in the House and a leg­isla­tive intern for the King Coun­ty Coun­cil. He has a B.A. in his­to­ry and polit­i­cal sci­ence from Prin­cip­ia College.

He is known for his chair­man­ship of the House­’s Envi­ron­ment & Ener­gy Com­mit­tee and for head­ing the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cam­paign Com­mit­tee, or HDCC, the cam­paign arm of the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic caucus.

The HDCC is one of many spon­sors of NPI’s work.

As Speak­er Jink­ins men­tioned in her com­ments, the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus had a very good midterm elec­tion. The par­ty suc­cess­ful­ly defend­ed its seats in key bat­tle­ground dis­tricts like the 42nd, the 10th, the 44th, and the 47th, with Repub­li­cans fail­ing to knock out Demo­c­ra­t­ic incum­bents. If Clyde Shavers’ cur­rent lead holds, the par­ty will add one seat to its major­i­ty overall.

Fitzgib­bon hails from a safe dis­trict in King Coun­ty, the 34th, that encom­pass­es Vashon Island and West Seat­tle as well as com­mu­ni­ties to the south, like Burien. He has often been opposed by Repub­li­can chal­lenger Andrew Pil­loud. Fitzgib­bon has typ­i­cal­ly won his state leg­isla­tive elec­tions with 80% of the vote or more.

Fitzgib­bon’s pre­de­ces­sor in the House, Sharon Nel­son, made the jump to the Sen­ate after just three years. Nel­son served as Demo­c­ra­t­ic Leader in the Sen­ate from 2013–2018, becom­ing Major­i­ty Leader after Man­ka Dhin­gra’s spe­cial elec­tion vic­to­ry five years ago. She retired from the Leg­is­la­ture after the 2018 session.

Fitzgib­bon, thir­ty-six, has been a young Demo­c­rat for near­ly all of his polit­i­cal career. Due to hav­ing joined the House in his twen­ties, he is one of the more senior mem­bers of the body despite being younger than forty.

NPI con­grat­u­lates Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Fitzgib­bon on his new role. We look for­ward to work­ing with him and the lead­er­ship of the House to pass laws that improve Wash­ing­to­ni­ans’ qual­i­ty of life and make our econ­o­my more inclusive.