The Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) is a department of the government of the State of Washington. WADOC is responsible for administering adult corrections programs operated by the state. This includes state correctional institutions and programs for people supervised in the community. Its headquarters are in Tumwater,Washington.
Jay Robert Inslee is an American politician,lawyer,and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2012,and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He is the longest-serving current governor in the United States.
Timothy Donald Eyman is an American anti-tax activist and businessman.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is the state of Washington's environmental regulatory agency. Created in February 1970,it was the first environmental regulation agency in the U.S. predating the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by several months.
The 2012 Washington gubernatorial election took place on November 6,2012. Candidates in the election were chosen in an August 7,2012 primary election,under the state's nonpartisan blanket primary system,which allows voters to vote for any candidate running in the race,regardless of party affiliation. The two candidates who received the most votes in the primary election qualified for the general election.
The 2016 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 8,2016.
Andrew Ryan Stokesbary is an American lawyer and politician. He serves in the Washington House of Representatives,where he is currently the ranking Republican member on the House Appropriations Committee. During his second term,he was elected Minority Floor Leader. He also sits on the House Finance Committee.
The 2020 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 3,2020. It followed a top-two primary held on August 4. Incumbent governor Jay Inslee,the Democratic candidate,defeated Loren Culp,the Republican candidate by a wide margin. Inslee,who was eligible to run for a third term due to the lack of gubernatorial term limits,initially launched a campaign for president of the United States in the 2020 election. When he dropped out of that race in August 2019 due to extremely low polling numbers,he announced he would seek a third term as governor. Several other Democratic political figures considered entering the race if Inslee did not run,including Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson;no other major Democratic candidates entered the race. Republican Loren Culp,the police chief of Republic,Washington,placed second in the top-two primary and advanced to the general election alongside Inslee.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Washington were held on November 3,2020,to elect the 10 U.S. representatives from the state of Washington,one from each of the state's 10 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.
Noah Guzzo Purcell is an American attorney serving as the solicitor general of the U.S. state of Washington. He gained national attention when he halted President Donald Trump's first travel ban with a successful lawsuit on behalf of the State of Washington in Washington v. Trump.
Manka Dhingra is an Indian-born American attorney and politician who is a Washington State senator. A member of the Democratic Party,she was elected to represent the 45th legislative district,on Seattle's Eastside in King County,during a 2017 special election. Dhingra is the first Sikh elected to any state legislature in the United States.
Hilary S. Franz is an American politician and conservation attorney serving as the 16th Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands since 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party who was previously a member of the Bainbridge Island City Council and was elected as commissioner in 2016.
The first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was announced by the state of Washington on January 21,2020. Washington made the first announcement of a death from the disease in the U.S. on February 29 and later announced that two deaths there on February 26 were also due to COVID-19. Until mid-March,Washington had the highest absolute number of confirmed cases and the highest number per capita of any state in the country,until it was surpassed by New York state on April 10,2020. Many of the deceased were residents of a nursing home in Kirkland,an Eastside suburb of Seattle in King County.
The 2020 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2020. The season was a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfires. By September,wildfires had burned over 713,000 acres,181 homes had been lost,and one death occurred as a result. The 2020 fire season saw more individual fires than in any other recorded year.
Nicholas William Brown is an American lawyer who served as United States attorney for the Western District of Washington from October 2021 to June 21,2023. Brown was elected the attorney general for Washington in 2024.
The 2024 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 5,2024. The top-two primary was held on August 6. Incumbent Democratic governor Jay Inslee was eligible to seek re-election to a fourth term,but decided that he would not do so. Democratic nominee,state Attorney General Bob Ferguson defeated Republican nominee,former Congressman Dave Reichert. Ferguson will succeed Inslee. Inslee,who previously served in the U.S. House,was first elected governor in 2012 and won re-election in 2016 and 2020.
The 2022 Washington Secretary of State special election was held on November 8,2022. Incumbent Kim Wyman,a Republican,resigned from the office on November 19,2021,to become the senior election security lead for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security. Washington governor Jay Inslee,a Democrat,announced he would appoint state senator Steve Hobbs as her replacement,the first Democrat to hold the office in more than fifty years.
The Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) is a state law in the U.S. state of Washington that aims to protect voting rights and prevent discrimination. It is the second state level voting rights act to be enacted after the California Voting Rights Act,which inspired the WVRA,was approved in 2002. It was enacted in the aftermath of a lawsuit against the city of Yakima under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Among its provisions,the act allows individuals to issue a request for voting by districts as opposed to at-large elections,something that was a key issue in the lawsuit against Yakima. It also requires public notification of proposed changes to elections. In 2023 the Washington State Legislature passed HB 1048 to strengthen the WVRA. In 2023 the Washington Supreme Court upheld the WVRA in a unanimous (9–0) opinion.
