The Vidette
Aberdeen businessman Jim Walsh, elected last month to the state House of Representatives, was sworn in Thursday, Dec. 8, at a ceremony conducted by Judge Dave Edwards at the Grays Harbor County Courthouse in Montesano.
Other legislators won’t be sworn in until January, but since his predecessor was appointed to the seat in October 2015, Walsh, a Republican, was allowed to be sworn in early. He will receive House committee assignments later this month.
“The work begins today,” Walsh said. “This is a tremendous responsibility and one I am honored to undertake. While I come to Olympia with a set of core principles, I am committed to bipartisanship and finding common-sense solutions for the challenges facing our coastal communities. I want to make a difference for the people of the 19th District who have been left behind by Seattle-centric policies. They deserve a Legislature and state government that works for them – not against them.”
His district includes parts of Grays Harbor, Cowlitz and Lewis counties and all of Pacific and Wahkiakum counties.
“As I have talked with people throughout the district, I have heard two common themes: jobs and schools,” said Walsh, who is a small business owner and has five children. “I will end up considering hundreds of issues over the next two years, but I come to the Legislature focused on creating family-wage jobs, adequately funding schools and protecting taxpayers.”
There have only been two Republicans to represent the 19th Legislative District in the last 70 years. Walsh is the second. There will be 50 Democrats and 48 Republicans in the Washington State House of Representatives when the 2017 legislative session begins Jan. 9.
Walsh graduated cum laude from Amherst College in 1986 and owns a technical publishing company. He and his wife, Jamie, live in Aberdeen. Their five children range from ages 10 to 24.
Walsh’s e-mail address is jim.walsh@leg.wa.gov and his phone number will be (360) 786-7806. His office location will be 428 John L. O’Brien Building on the Capitol Campus.
