Five 33rd District candidates seek to replace retiring Sen. Keiser

King County Democrats have five candidates who want to be appointed to replace state Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, in the 33rd Legislative District.

Six other candidates want to be appointed as a state representative in the 33rd District if either State Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, or State Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, are chosen to replace Keiser. Keiser is retiring this year after 29 years in Olympia, first as a represenative and then as a senator.

The 33rd District includes portions of Kent and the cities of SeaTac, Des Moines, Burien and Normandy Park.

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The King County Democrats will call a special meeting of the 33rd District precinct committee officers on Saturday, Dec. 7 (time and location to be determined) to take final nominations from the floor, and the King County Democrats board will determine which three candidates for each seat to submit to the King County Council.

The county council will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 to pick the replacement (s) from a list of three nominees for the Senate and, if necessary, three nominees for the House.

The 2025 legislative session begins Jan. 13.

Senate candidates

• Tina Orwall: Current state representative from the 33rd District.

• Mia Gregerson: Current state representative from the 33rd District.

• Don Bennett: 33rd District King County Democrats Central Committee alternate.

• Takele Gobena: Served on the SeaTac City Council from 2019 to 2023.

• Melissa Chaudhry: Lost in 2024 to Democratic incumbent Adam Smith for the 9th District U.S. representative seat.

House candidates

• Sam Mendez: Vice chair of the 33rd District Democrats.

• Krystal Marx: Served on the Burien City Council from 2018 to 2021 and as deputy mayor from 2019 to 2022. Lost reelection in 2023. 33rd District King County Democrats Central Committee representative.

• Dan Santon: 33rd District Democrats State Committee representative.

• Edwin Obras: Board president since 2019 of the Filipino Community of Seattle.

• Jimmy Matta: Current member of Burien City Council, Burien mayor 2018-2021.

• El’ona Kearney: Ran for governor, lost in August 2024 primary; ran and lost for SeaTac City Council in 2021.

• Sai Samineni: Worked as campaign manager for State Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent, of the 47th District.

List of candidates provided by Jackie Boschok, chair of the 33rd Legislative District Democrats.

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