SEATTLE — Washington attorney general Rob McKenna has another political mind in his family: his daughter.
Madeleine McKenna was voted this week the new student president at the University of Washington. Her father served as UW student president in 1984, marking the first step in his political career.
Madeleine McKenna beat out four other candidates and received 59 percent of the vote total in the final runoff between the top two candidates, the Seattle Times reported on Saturday.
But father and daughter don’t have quite the same political views.
“Well, she voted for Obama and I voted for McCain,” Rob McKenna said Friday. “On the other hand, we’re both passionate about improving the lives of students.”
The younger McKenna said she tries to avoid debating controversial issues with her dad.
“We honestly don’t really talk about it that much. He’s my dad, and my role as daughter comes first,” she said.
Madeleine McKenna, 22, is a senior majoring in international studies and economics.
Her first taste of school politics came as a freshman and she helped start the Husky Mentors Program, matching 500 incoming freshman with 500 older students.
She plans to spend plenty of time in Olympia next year lobbying against additional cuts to higher education.
Rob McKenna has been widely speculated as a 2012 gubernatorial candidate. He said he’s been impressed with his daughter’s organizing of a political campaign.
“She has expressed an interest in helping me out on my next campaign in 2012, whatever that may be,” McKenna said, adding he’d love her help with organizing and social media in his next campaign.
Madeleine McKenna said she’s considering working before returning to graduate school to study law or public administration. She already knows she wants a career in public-service, despite some of its downside.
“I watched my dad doing it growing up,” she said. “It’s a tough lifestyle.”
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