Elected Experience: State Senator representing East King County from 1996 to 2003. Reappointed to the State Senate unanimously by the King County Council in 2012 and 2016

Other Professional Experience: As a successful businessman and State Senator, I built coalitions of people from all walks of life and worked across party lines to solve problems. In the State Senate, I wiped out a multibillion dollar budget deficit while maintaining strong protections for the most vulnerable

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, Seattle University

Community Service: Board Chair, Special Olympics for Washington; Board Member, Mountains-to-Sound Greenway Trust; Deans Advisory Board Member, Seattle University School of Business

Statement: Congress has too many people yelling, and too few people solving problems. As the son of a public schoolteacher and beautician, I want every family to live the American Dream like my family did. I worked my way through college with jobs in construction and as a janitor. Later, I became successful in commercial real estate, where I learned to work constructively with others to fix problems and help everyone succeed.

As a State Senator, I stayed true to those principles and built coalitions of people from all walks of life, writing award-winning bipartisan balanced budgets. I closed deficits while protecting funding for seniors, people with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses, and increasing school funding, all without a general tax increase. I passed laws to keep child molesters in prison for life and to stop chronic DUI offenders from driving.

Every life has value, and I have always worked to honor the dignity of all people. The developmental disabilities community has given me eight awards for my success in defending them in Olympia. I also had the honor of chairing the Special Olympics of Washington. I am a fiscal conservative with a social conscience and will always defend the most vulnerable.

My wife Terry and I have four wonderful children, and we want to leave this country better than we found it. But most of D.C. is absorbed in scoring political points rather than meeting our challenges. As your Congressman, my door will always be open to anyone who will work in good faith. I am asking for your vote to help our country solve problems again.

Endorsements: Washington State Troopers Association, Washington Fraternal Order of Police, Washington Farm Bureau, over 150 Republican, Democratic, and nonpartisan local elected officials, and hundreds of community leaders across the 8th District