Here’s Whatcom County’s newest representative in Olympia
Whatcom County’s newest state legislator is a Bellingham environmental advocate.
Alex Ramel of Bellingham was chosen 5-4 on a first vote Monday to replace Democratic 40th District Rep. Jeff Morris of Mount Vernon, who resigned late last year to accept a job in private industry.
A joint meeting of the county councils of San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom was held to make the selection from three candidates nominated by the 40th District Democrats.
Each candidate had 10 minutes to give a short presentation and take questions from the combined panel.
San Juan and Skagit county commissioners each had one vote.
Whatcom County’s six attending commissioners each had 1/2 vote. Commissioner Rud Browne recused himself.
Other nominees were Bellingham City Council member Michael Lilliquist and Marco Morales of Mount Vernon, migrant youth graduation counselor at Laventure Middle School.
Ramel is extreme oil field director for the environmental group Stand.Earth. He ran for the other 40th District state House seat in 2018, losing in the primary. He’s the former energy and policy director for Sustainable Connections and has a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and planning from Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment. He served six years on the board of the Kulshan Community Land Trust.
He’ll need to hit the ground running, because the 2020 legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 13, in Olympia.
Washington’s 40th District encompasses all of San Juan County, part of western Skagit County, and southwestern Whatcom County including part of Bellingham.
Ramel must run in the Aug. 4 primary because Morris’ two-year term expires this year.
Morris is the second 40th District representative to resign in 2019.
Former Sen. Kevin Ranker left office in the face of sexual harassment allegations just as the legislative session was set to start in January.
He was replaced by state Sen. Liz Lovelett, who won a four-year term in November.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 2:18 PM.
