Bob Hasegawa is a lifelong resident of the 11th Legislative District. He grew up on Beacon Hill in Seattle, where he attended Cleveland High School. He has also lived in the Riverton Heights area of Tukwila and the Maplewood Heights area of Renton.
He developed a strong sense of justice as a Japanese American. Bob’s family was forcibly incarcerated during World War II based only on their Japanese heritage, even though they were American citizens. This injustice and denial of constitutional rights motivated Bob to protect others.
Bob is a longtime labor and social justice activist. He has led the fight to resolve many workers’ struggles, winning top wages and benefits for working families and retirees. He has also collaborated on overcoming social justice struggles to protect and advance civil rights, workers’ rights, democracy, the environment, and constitutional rights. For 32 years, Bob was a member of the Teamsters Union, where he rose through the ranks to become the elected leader of the largest Teamster trucking industry and general workers local union in the Pacific Northwest (Teamsters Local 174) for three terms (nine years). In this role, he negotiated the best wages and benefits in the country. He was also a leader in Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a national Teamsters pro-union democracy reform movement. He maintains his union membership in the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).
As a union and community organizer, Bob has long sought to build solidarity and bridges between social justice organizations, particularly those serving workers (both organized and unorganized), environmental and environmental justice groups, diverse religions, communities of color, and other historically underrepresented communities. He was a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO and served on both its local and national executive boards. He served on the boards of the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO (MLK Labor), the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and boards of other community-based organizations, including the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)-Seattle, the oldest Asian civil rights organization in the United States.
Bob believes in lifelong learning. He attended the University of Washington, where he studied physics and later returned for his master’s degree in public administration from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. He also holds an associate’s degree in labor studies from Shoreline Community College, a bachelor’s degree from Antioch University Seattle with concentrations in labor studies and organizational and social change, and studied information technology at Seattle Central College. Bob is a seasoned CDL Class A commercial truck driver, certified transit operator, and journey-level operating engineer.
Bob was elected to House of Representatives in 2005 and held the seat through 2012, when he was elected to the Senate. In both chambers, he fights for economic and social justice and is a voice for working families, small businesses, and disenfranchised communities.
Bob is currently the chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus (Majority Caucus) and sits on the Rules, Ways & Means, Business, Economic Development and Trade, and State Government, Elections & Tribal Affairs committees. He also serves as Chair of the Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee, is the senior member of the Legislative Committee on Economic Development and International Relations, and is a member of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.