longest-serving state representative

Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos has rarely faced a competitive election challenge in her nearly three decades in the Washington Legislature. 

Now Santos, the longtime chair of the House Education Committee, faces a teacher with no elected experience whose performance in the August primary has put the veteran lawmaker’s political future in jeopardy. 

Kelabe Tewolde, a fellow Democrat who is a Seattle planning commissioner, defeated Santos by over three percentage points in their head-to-head match-up last month to represent south Seattle’s 37th Legislative District. 

Santos is one of several Democratic lawmakers facing challengers from the left this cycle. But unlike her more moderate colleagues, she tends to side with progressive legislators on many of the most controversial issues before the Legislature. For example, she voted for Washington’s new high-earners income tax this year.

Santos recognizes she’s having to work harder than in past election cycles, but “it gives me a chance to try and win over those who haven’t had yet the chance to get to know me.” Tewolde thinks “everybody was caught off guard” that his challenge has been so competitive, even him, to a certain extent. 

Santos, in her pitch to voters, points to her experience as key as the state faces another budget shortfall in 2027 and ongoing interference from the federal government. 

“It’s not the quantity, because I could have served there for as long as I have and been a bump on the log,” Santos said. “But if you look at my record, I have stood up to governors. I have stood up to statewide insurance commissioners. I have stood up to the superintendent of public instruction. And I have stood up against my caucus on some votes.”

She said her “long-term view” of past decisions, which can color policy direction, and her relationships make her an effective legislator.

Tewolde believes it’s time for a fresh perspective. 

“I think we need a new voice in Olympia that represents the 37th, that understands the housing costs that families are dealing with,” he said.

Tewolde is an associate director at Rainier Scholars, which works with individual students for years to prepare them for college or a career after high school. He’s also an alum of the program. Tewolde, 31, said he has seen that the issues he dealt with as a child — housing insecurity, displacement, gun violence and rising healthcare costs — are still affecting children today. 

Santos says it’s not the right moment “to hand the reins over to a ‘fresh voice.’”

Santos and Tewolde share many of the same policy views.

Santos, though, has taken a few positions in recent years that Tewolde has disagreed with.

For example, she was one of a handful of House Democrats who voted against the state’s landmark 2025 law capping residential rent increases. Santos said she was trying to look out for smaller landlords whose rental properties represent all of their income. She said it was the toughest vote she took that session.

The 37th District is renter-heavy and has an above-average poverty rate. Tewolde said he is a renter himself, and would’ve voted for the law.

Santos also doesn’t believe the state should impose a universal bell-to-bell cellphone ban in public schools. She thinks the decision should be left up to local school boards. The policy is a top priority for Gov. Bob Ferguson going into 2027. Tewolde thinks not letting students use phones at Rainier Scholars made the “the most night-and-day difference” in boosting their learning.

Tewolde was also frustrated that Santos did not do more to stave off funding cuts to the Transition to Kindergarten early learning program that the Legislature approved this year.

“I think we have an education chair currently who could be doing better, and I think she wants to do better, but hasn’t,” Tewolde said of his opponent.

He thinks, if elected, voters would find him to be “somebody that is actually willing to fight for their needs, whether it’s around housing, education, affordability.”

Santos has outraised Tewolde, $128,000 to $78,000, according to campaign finance filings. Tewolde’s endorsements include King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. Santos is supported by House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, and seatmate Rep. Chipalo Street.

Santos’ campaign was defrauded of $20,000 last year, according to The Stranger.

All three seats in the 37th District could turn over in November.

Street is likely moving to the Senate to succeed Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, who is running for King County Council. Replacing Street will presumably be Jaelynn Scott, who would be the state’s first openly transgender legislator and one of just two members of the Democratic Socialists of America serving in Olympia.