OLYMPIA — House Democrats elected a wide mix of lawmakers to posts in leadership: three women and two men, an experienced lawmaker from Spokane and a freshmen from Federal Way.
Deputy Floor Leaders: Rep. Gael Tarleton (D-Ballard) and Rep. Steve Bergquist (D-Renton).
As deputy floor leaders, Tarleton and Bergquist will help shepherd legislation on the floor the House of Representatives, where all 98 lawmakers have the final say on bills before they go to the Senate or to the governor’s office.
Tarleton is a former Port of Seattle commissioner and defense intelligence analyst for the Pentagon who also ran subsidiaries of a Fortune 500 company in Russia.
Bergquist is a sophomore lawmaker and small business owner who works as a high school social studies teacher.
Deputy Whips: Rep. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane) and Rep. Cindy Ryu (D-Shoreline).
Whips are in charge of finding out the level of support that legislation, amendments and budgets have, to see which ones are ready for a vote by the full House.
Riccelli has worked as a policy advisor, as adjunct professor at Eastern Washington University and as operations manager for the Northeast Community Center in Spokane.
Ryu is the former mayor of Shoreline and also served as president of the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce.
Assistant Whip: Rep. Joan McBride (D-Kirkland)
McBride is a freshman lawmaker who served as both mayor of Kirkland and on the city council after a career in non-profit development and community relations.