Two former Washington state lawmakers will return to public office after winning elections this week.
Democrat Mark Mullet and Republican J.T. Wilcox each exited the Legislature at the end of their term in January. Both found success Tuesday in bids for nonpartisan posts.
Mullet spent Wednesday morning picking up campaign signs in Issaquah, where voters elected him to be the city’s next mayor.
The ex-state senator and 2024 gubernatorial candidate said he’s looking forward to reengaging in “public service that solves problems” minus the partisan bickering of the legislative process.
“My focus will be on making sure state policies don’t have a negative impact on the local level,” said Mullet, who served on the Issaquah City Council before winning his Senate seat in 2012.
Mullet fell well short in his bid for governor, losing the primary to a fellow Democrat, Bob Ferguson, who is now governor. Ferguson endorsed Mullet for mayor.
Tuesday won’t serve as a springboard back into any state office, Mullet insisted.
“This is setting me up to hopefully be a really good mayor of Issaquah,” he said.
In Pierce County, Wilcox, who led the House Republican Caucus for five years, won a seat on the nonpartisan Port of Tacoma Commission.
He said he was somewhat surprised because he is known as a Republican, and his opponent, Cyrus Donato, is recognized as a Democrat.
“It didn’t seem like a very good year to be a Republican” on the ballot, he said.
He was alluding to how the unpopular policies of President Donald Trump hurt GOP candidates in western Washington in Tuesday’s contests.
Wilcox won his House seat in 2010 and served seven terms in the 2nd Legislative District that encompasses parts of Thurston and Pierce counties. He served as House minority leader from 2018 to 2023.
He said the part-time commission post will allow him to serve the public, work on salmon recovery and strengthen the port’s relationship with local governments and tribes, as well as state and federal agencies. And to do the work collaboratively, not confrontationally, he said.
“This is an important part of the economy. It doesn’t deserve to be ruled by activism or ideology,” Wilcox said.
Also Tuesday, two Republican state lawmakers were re-elected to local positions.
Rep. Sam Low of Lake Stevens won a third term on the Snohomish County Council. It will be his last due to term limits.
He led Democrat Kelli Johnson by a margin of 54.2% to 45.7% on Thursday. His performance stood out as a rarity on Tuesday: a Republican getting above 50% against a Democrat for a partisan office.
“I have a good, strong track record of working in a bipartisan way,” he said Wednesday, shortly before attending a council meeting where he would be voting on a 2026 county budget.
In southwest Washington, Rep. David Stuebe faced no opposition en route to his election as mayor of Washougal. Stuebe joined the City Council in March 2021 and was appointed mayor in September 2022.
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