Activist, run­ner, and non­prof­it leader Greg Nance has been cho­sen to suc­ceed Drew Hansen in the Wash­ing­ton House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives by the three-mem­ber Kit­sap Coun­ty Com­mis­sion, the coun­ty announced today. He will rep­re­sent the 23rd Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict as one of its two state representatives.

Nance was one of three nom­i­nees pro­posed by the Kit­sap Coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee to fill the vacan­cy cre­at­ed by Hansen’s move over to the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate. Hansen took the place of for­mer State Sen­a­tor Chris­tine Rolfes, who is now her­self on the Kit­sap Coun­ty Com­mis­sion and had a vote in pick­ing her own suc­ces­sor and then Hansen’s successor.

“Com­mis­sion­ers select­ed Nance based upon inter­views with the can­di­dates Sept. 15 and his let­ters of endorse­ment from the Suquamish Tribe, labor unions and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions,” Kit­sap Coun­ty explained in a news release.

“They also point­ed to the diver­si­ty of his expe­ri­ence includ­ing envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, work with local tribes and cham­pi­oning youth men­tal health. Over­all, Com­mis­sion­ers believe he can ‘hit the ground run­ning’ and that he will be a strong rep­re­sen­ta­tive of our com­mu­ni­ties with a depth of under­stand­ing of the bud­getary and ser­vice chal­lenges of coun­ty gov­ern­ment. They feel he is best suit­ed to rep­re­sent Kit­sap dur­ing the short 60-day leg­isla­tive ses­sion next spring.”

Nance was the sec­ond nom­i­nee sub­mit­ted on the par­ty’s list of three names. List­ed first was Brynn Felix and list­ed third was Leiy­o­mi Preciado.

The Con­sti­tu­tion does not require or encour­age polit­i­cal par­ties to rank the lists of nom­i­nees they sub­mit to fill vacan­cies, but the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty’s prac­tice is to do any­way in an attempt to influ­ence who gets appoint­ed. Some­times, the leg­isla­tive author­i­ty goes with the precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers’ first pick, but in many cas­es they don’t, and this was one of those cases.

Under the Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion, the par­ty has the pow­er to nom­i­nate, while the local leg­isla­tive author­i­ties have the pow­er to appoint.

Appoint­ing pow­er is trans­ferred to the gov­er­nor in the event that no appoint­ment is made by the local leg­isla­tive author­i­ties after six­ty days.

Nance was pre­pared to run for the posi­tion in 2024 regard­less of who the Com­mis­sion appoint­ed. He is endorsed by for­mer State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Sher­ry Apple­ton (his seat­mate Tar­ra Sim­mons’ pre­de­ces­sor), Bain­bridge Island May­or Bren­da Fantroy-John­son, and Kit­sap PUD Com­mis­sion­er Deb­bi Lester.

Nance’s top pri­or­i­ties as a state leg­is­la­tor are pro­tect­ing Puget Sound, sav­ing our pub­lic schools, and mobi­liz­ing for men­tal health.

“Greg grew up in a mid­dle class union fam­i­ly on Bain­bridge Island and worked as a land­scap­er, house painter, and fire­wood split­ter,” his biog­ra­phy says.

“The son of a social work­er and pub­lic defend­er, Greg learned the val­ue of hard work and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice around the din­ner table.”

“His Mom spent over twen­ty years as a nurs­ing home social work­er ensur­ing seniors across Kit­sap have access to qual­i­ty care and are treat­ed with dig­ni­ty. His Dad was a Seat­tle Sea­hawks beer ven­dor before help­ing union­ize the Seat­tle Pub­lic Defend­er to ensure every­one, includ­ing the poor and mar­gin­al­ized, are pro­vid­ed effec­tive legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion as guar­an­teed by our constitution.”

Nance joins a House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus that has grown in size and become more diverse in recent elec­tion cycles. Pri­or to the 2018 midterms, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty had a bare major­i­ty of fifty in the House, but nowa­days, its major­i­ty stands at fifty-eight. The par­ty can afford to lose eight votes and still pass a bill in the cham­ber. For­mer State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Drew Hansen chaired a key com­mit­tee, Judi­cia­ry, so his depar­ture will prompt a reshuf­fling before the 2024 session.

NPI con­grat­u­lates Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Greg Nance on his appoint­ment. We wish him the best as he begins his new respon­si­bil­i­ties serv­ing the 23rd District.