District 38 officially has a new senator.
Considered a shoe-in by many to replace Aaron Reardon, former state Rep. Jean Berkey was sworn in Monday as the new senator of District 38, a state legislative district that includes much of Everett.
Reardon left the office after one year after being elected Snohomish County executive in November. He was a state representative before being elected senator.
The Snohomish County Council voted for Berkey on Monday, despite earlier saying it wanted to hold more interviews later this week. The apparent vote of confidence was appreciated by a jubilant Berkey.
"This morning, around 10:10 a.m., I received a call from (County Councilman) John Koster telling me I’m the new senator," Berkey said. "I’ve been floating on air since then."
Berkey, a Democrat from Everett, turned in her resignation as one of two representatives from District 38 Monday afternoon. She was then sworn in about 7 p.m. by family friend Charles French, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge, at the Democrat’s 38th Legislative District monthly meeting.
With the new legislative session starting Monday, the County Council is expected to move quickly to fill the House of Representatives seat that Berkey is leaving. Mike Sells, secretary-treasurer for the Snohomish County Labor Council, has been listed as the odds-on favorite to replace Berkey.
Sells picked up the most ballots during the recent vote of precinct committee officers to pick candidates for the open positions, said Kent Hanson, chairman of the Snohomish County Democratic Party Central Committee. Becauseof that, he’s the committee’s top choice for the post.
Berkey beat out fellow 38th District state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, and Kelly Wright, a member of the Marysville Salary Commission.
As a senator, Berkey said she wants to continue her work on streamlining the process builders go through when they get city and county building permits, and to put more money in public schools rather than charter schools. She also wants to help give universities more power over how they mange themselves.
In the short term, she said she’s looking forward to finding out what committees she will be on and moving from a House office to a Senate office.
"Everyone has told me that I will enjoy the Senate, that it’s very collegial," she said.
If he is appointed, Sells has said he would keep his job with the labor council.
He was first elected secretary-treasurer of the Snohomish County AFL-CIO in 1976 and was asked to take over full time in 1998. By then, the council had grown from 7,000 members in 42 unions to more than 42,000 members in 65 unions.
Along with Everett, the 38th District includes much of Marysville and the Tulalip Reservation.
Reporter Lukas Velush:
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