Process begins to replace retiring state Sen. Karen Keiser

The 33rd Legislative District Democratic wheels are turning to replace retiring Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, who has represented the area for the last 29 years.

Keiser, 77, whose final day in office is expected to be Dec. 10, announced in March that she would be retiring at the end of the year although her term doesn’t end until Jan. 11, 2027. Voters reelected Keiser in 2022 to a four-year term.

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

Because her seat wasn’t up for election this year, the more than 100 Democratic precinct committee officers in the 33rd District will select three candidates to submit to the King County Democrats Executive Board and then to the King County Council to choose Keiser’s replacement, according to Jackie Boschok, chair of the 33rd Legislative District Democrats. The 2025 legislative session begins Jan. 13.

So far, Boschok said during a Tuesday, Nov. 12 phone interview that the candidates to replace Keiser include current 33rd District State Reps. Tina Orwall, of Des Moines, and Mia Gregerson, of SeaTac; and Melissa Chaudhry, who recently lost her first run for public office against Democratic incumbent Adam Smith for the 9th District U.S. representative seat.

With the chance that Orwall or Gregerson could be picked to replace Keiser, the 33rd District Democrats also plan to select three candidates to submit to the county council to fill the representative seat, Boschok said.

Five people have put in their names so far to be chosen as a state representative candidate, said Boschok, who added that she did not want to reveal those names at this time as the list is unofficial. She expects that list to grow and the names to be known when the 33rd District Democrats host a candidates forum from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23 at the LiUNA (laborers union) 242 office, 22323 Pacific Highway S., in Des Moines.

The King County Democrats will call a special meeting of the 33rd District precinct committeee officers on Saturday, Dec. 7 (time and location to be determined) to take final nominations from the floor and determine which candidates to submit to the county council.

The county council will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 to pick the replacement (s).

“We will have candidates ranked one, two and three, but the county council can choose any one of the three,” Boschok said.

In fact, in 2013, 33rd District Democrats selected Elizabeth Albertson, of Kent, to replace Dave Upthegrove (who left the Legislature for the King County Council) but the council picked Gregerson. Gregerson then was elected by voters in 2014 and has been reelected every two years, including the Nov. 5 general election.

Keiser began her legislative career in 1995 when she was appointed to a vacant House seat. Keiser ran and won her first election in 1996. She served in the House until 2001, when she was appointed to a seat in the Senate, where she has been reelected six times.

The person chosen next month to replace Keiser will serve until November 2025 when a special election will be held for voters to fill the vacancy until the next regular election for the seat in November 2026.