Ramiro Valderrama

Precinct committeemen of the 45^th Legislative District selected Dino Rossi, Toby Nixon and Joel Hussey as their candidates to forward to the King County Council to fill the vacancy on an interim basis created by the death of State Sen. Andy Hill, a Republican.

Sammamish Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama, who just lost his bid for the State House for the 45^th, as a Republican, was nominated but withdrew his name to concentrate on his current duties as a City Councilman.

About the three

Rossi served as State Senator from the old 5^th LD. Redistricting now puts Rossi in the 45^th. Rossi resigned as Senator to run for Governor in 2004, losing to Democrat Christine Gregoire by 133 votes after three recounts.

Rossi also served on an interim basis after State Sen. Cheryl Pflug, a Republican, resigned to become a full-time state employee. Pflug succeeded Rossi. Rossi said he would serve only until a special election next November.

Nixon, currently a Kirkland City Councilman, was State Representative from the 45^th until he ran for State Senate and lost. Nixon is a leading advocate of a strong Open Records and Open Meeting laws.

Hussey ran twice and lost against incumbent Roger Goodman, who defeated Valderamma on Nov. 8.

The process

Under State law, the precinct committeemen of the party that held the vacant seat (in this case, Republicans) nominate three people, with the County Council selecting the finalist for appointment to fill the seat to the next election. In this case, it will be November 2017, which is normally an off-year election for City Council races.

Then in November 2018, another special election is held to fill out the remaining two years of Hill’s term. Finally, in November 2020, the regular election for a full four-year term is held.

“I have profound gratitude for the precinct officers who vote having nominated me for this post and showing their support and confidence in me,” Valderrama said in an email to Sammamish Comment. “[I want] to continue my work [on the Sammamish City Council] on behalf of the citizens of Sammamish and to allow the process to be unified moving forward,” he said in a press release from the 45^th LD Republicans.

The 45th encompasses the northern half of Sammamish, roughly along SE 8th St.

Update on 5^th LD Senate race

Election results from today’s data dump by King County Elections show incumbent Democrat Mark Mullet (Issaquah) maintaining a slim lead over Republican challenger Chad Magendanz.

Mullet’s election night lead of six percentage points and 2,974 votes shrunk to 542 votes 0.73 percentage points. The bleeding appears to have ended. Only 884 votes were counted from Friday through today. Magendanz picked up only two votes.

An automatic recount is required if the percentage difference is 0.5% or less.

Sammamish Comment projected Mullet the winner on election night and reaffirmed this last week.