“The palpable fear in my community and a sense of helplessness is what drove me into the fire, if you will.”
— Rep. Brianna Thomas, D-Seattle, 34th Legislative District
“We need to get past sort of this polarizing nature of national government, frankly, and try to get back to the core values that we as Washingtonians, I believe, all hold true.”
— Rep. Osman Salahuddin, D-Bellevue, 48th Legislative District
“The taxation, our people are just burdened with the cost of living in this state.”
— Rep. Deb Manjarrez, R-Wapato, 14th Legislative District
“I think we as public servants have an obligation to model appropriate behavior and I think people really want that in 2026.”
— Rep. Hunter Abell, R-Inchelium, 7th Legislative District
Early-term Washington lawmakers described what pulled them into public service and what they are learning in Olympia. Seattle Democrat Rep. Brianna Thomas said, “I’m not a do-nothing kind of lady,” while Eastside Democrat Rep. Osman Salahuddin said, “we need to get past sort of this polarizing nature of national government.” Republican Reps. Deb Manjarrez and Hunter Abell emphasized the distance and trade-offs of service, with Manjarrez saying:“Not being in the majority, we have to work a little bit harder.”