SEATTLE — The Metropolitan King County Council promoted state Rep. Vandana Slatter to the state Senate on Tuesday, unanimously choosing her to fill a vacancy created when Sen. Patty Kuderer was elected state insurance commissioner in November.
Slatter, who represents an Eastside district covering parts of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Medina, was chosen over her seatmate in the 48th District, state Rep. Amy Walen.
The King County Democratic Party nominated three candidates to fill Kuderer’s seat, ranking them in order of preference: Slatter, Walen and Neal Black, a Kirkland City Council member. All three are Democrats, as is Kuderer. Democratic precinct committee officers in the 48th District voted to determine and rank the nominees.
It’s up to the County Council to choose from the three nominees. The council usually, but not always, follows the preference of the county party.
“I would appoint both of these women to anything if I had the choice to do so,” Councilmember Claudia Balducci said. Democratic officers in the 48th District expressed a “clear preference” for Slatter, Balducci said, “and to me it is important that we honor that.”
Slatter, a pharmacist by training, has previously worked for biotech and pharmaceutical companies and served on the state Board of Pharmacy. Slatter was elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2015 and appointed to fill a vacancy in the state House in 2017. She subsequently won a special election for the state House seat and has been handily reelected four times.
Slatter chaired the House’s Postsecondary Education & Workforce Committee and led legislation to create a state climate corps and to enroll more eligible students in state college financial aid programs.
“Policymaking isn’t a speech it’s a conversation with community,” Slatter said. “I believe in my core that the best solutions come from different minds working to solve problems.”
It’s the second of three recent state Senate vacancies for the County Council to fill. Last month, they chose then-state Rep. Tina Orwall to fill a vacancy created by a retirement. Later this month, the council will choose a replacement for state Sen. Joe Nguyen, who will lead the Department of Commerce for incoming Gov. Bob Ferguson.
And, in the coming weeks, the County Council will need to fill a vacancy in its own ranks, as Councilmember Dave Upthegrove will leave Jan. 15 after being elected state lands commissioner in November.
After it was clear Slatter was the pick of the council members, but before they officially voted to appoint her, the council took a two-minute recess so she could email the governor, officially resigning from the state House.
The County Council then voted to appoint Redmond City Councilmember Osman Salahuddin to fill Slatter’s newly vacant House seat.
Salahuddin, a staff member in County Councilmember Sarah Perry’s office, was the second choice, narrowly, of the local Democratic Party, but the County Council opted for him over Black, of the Kirkland City Council.
Perry said she consulted with the county’s legal staff and was told it was not a conflict of interest for her to participate in the appointment.
There will be a special election in November to fill both seats for the remainder of their terms.
