by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
December 8, 2025
Washington state Sen. Rebecca Saldaña said Monday she would run for an open seat on the King County Council and forgo reelection to the state Senate.
“This will be my last legislative session as a State Senator,” Saldaña said in a text message Monday afternoon.
Rep. Chipalo Street, D-Seattle, will run to replace her in the 37th Legislative District. He said running “would be very interesting.”
“Now that she’s made it official, I’m happy to make it official,” he said Monday. “I have the session to worry about, but I will take the steps to declare and file before the session even happens.”
The 37th District covers south Seattle neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, the Central District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City and the city of Renton.
Saldaña is aiming to replace newly elected King County Executive Girmay Zahilay on the County Council. Zahilay has chosen three options to replace him on the council until voters weigh in on a permanent successor next year. The council is expected to choose the temporary seatholder Tuesday.
Saldaña, who chairs the Labor and Commerce Committee, has been a leading voice in the Legislature on worker and immigrant rights. She joined the Legislature in 2016, upon appointment by the King County Council when then-state Sen. Pramila Jayapal won election to Congress.
Before that, she was executive director of Puget Sound Sage, an advocacy organization focused on racial justice, the climate and the economy.
Saldaña previously ran to be the state’s commissioner of public lands, but dropped out before a packed Democratic primary amid a cancer diagnosis and fundraising woes. During that run, Street and his seatmate, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle, discussed who might run to replace Saldaña if she won. They agreed it should be Street, he said.
Street, a Microsoft program manager who joined the Legislature in 2023, has focused on changing the state’s regressive tax structure while in Olympia.
This year, for example, he led a House effort on the controversial “wealth tax.” His bill made no progress, but another version passed the Senate in a largely symbolic move on the final day of this year’s session. The proposal, which targets taxpayers holding sizable amounts of assets like stocks and bonds, is expected to be a hot topic again in 2026 with another budget shortfall to grapple with.
Saldaña is the second Democratic senator to announce she won’t run for reelection in as many as weeks. Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, said last week she will serve through her term, but won’t run next year to retain her seat.
Both Democratic representatives from Shewmake’s district have said they’re not interested in running for the upper chamber. A local Democratic port commissioner announced his run Monday.
Lawmakers will convene in Olympia for a 60-day legislative session starting in January.
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