Dear friends and neighbors,
Today is sine die of the 2024 legislative session and my last day on the Senate floor, doing the most exciting job I’ve ever had.
Many of you probably already heard that I’m not running for re-election to the Senate. This is my twelfth year in the Legislature, and I’m honored by the trust the voters have placed in me by electing me three times to this seat. That being said, I did make the decision to run for a statewide office this year, and our election rules are clear that you can only run for one office at a time, so this brings my time in the Senate to a close.
Every day I’ve worked hard to represent the values of our district and the principles of good government. I’ve always strived to work together with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and to find compromise and bipartisan solutions whenever possible. This has been often to the frustration of my fellow Democrats, but I’ve always cared about getting it right on an issue rather than toeing a party line. Coming down in the middle of issues can be a tough place to be, when one party is running hard one way and the other party is running hard the other. But I think it’s worth it to do the extra work to find the compromise deal, to find the right solution, even when the political pressure to buckle under is tremendous. I know that in a swing district like ours, many of my constituents might disagree with positions I’ve taken – Republican voters who think I’m too socially progressive, and Democratic voters who get frustrated that I am fiscally conservative when it comes to new taxes – but I hope I’ve still earned your respect as somebody who works hard to find what he thinks the right solution is, even if we end up disagreeing from time to time.
This week, we passed our state’s capital budget for 2024, which I led the effort to write, and I spoke on the floor about that budget, as well as giving my final speech on the Senate floor about what I’ve learned while serving here. I cracked up laughing when most of the rest of the Senate donned mullet wigs to wear for my final speech – being able to call these people friends and colleagues is one of the reasons I have enjoyed this job for the past decade.
My speeches here are a little long, about 12 minutes total, and ordinarily I wouldn’t ask you to waste your time. But on this, I think I had something worth saying, and I’d appreciate it if you’d take a few minutes to watch.
I passed some good bills this year, too. After years of work, my bill to automatically create retirement savings accounts for Washington workers finally passed this year, one of the final bills of the entire session. Nearly half of all Washington workers currently don’t have the option to have money deducted directly from their paycheck and put into a retirement account in their name. This bill fixes that problem.
I also helped pass a bill cracking down on AI-generated “deepfake” pornography, which we had a problem with right here at Issaquah High School. My daughter and I went on Good Morning America to talk about the bill – you can watch the segment here. We also funded in the budget two big priorities for me this year – increasing state funding for law enforcement training so the state is paying 100% of the cost. This helps lower the financial burden on local police departments so we can train more cops to higher standards. We also provided funding to keep our promise to farmers and rebate them the costs caused by the Climate Commitment Act. It’s been a good session!
While I’m not running for re-election to this Senate seat, I’m still your senator for the rest of the year. If you have questions about these issues or need help with a state agency or anything, I’m still just an email away, right here at Mark.Mullet@leg.wa.gov.
Having had the chance to represent you is so special, and I can’t say enough about how much I appreciate the people I’ve met and worked with on this incredible twelve-year rollercoaster. This has been one of the most amazing and remarkable experiences of my life. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Sen. Mark Mullet
