Pedersen, left, was also a winner Tuesday night (Image: Alex Garland for CHS)

The race to lead Seattle is over and the political show must go on. As Ed Murray prepares to become Seattle’s 53rd mayor, he will leave behind his 43rd District Senate seat and minority leader post. The most likely contender to win the appointment to fill Murray’s soon-to-be empty seat is Capitol Hill’s own 43rd District Rep. Jamie Pedersen.

Pedersen, an attorney who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, tells CHS that he decided to seek the Senate seat in June even though he would enter as a junior member in the minority party. Murray’s majority leader position will be filled by a sitting senator.

“It’s not really an obvious choice for me personally. I’m chair of a committee that I like a lot and a relatively senior member of the House,” Pedersen said.

Despite the drawbacks, Pedersen said there are big issues in the Senate he wanted to tackle. “We need more revenue to invest in our education system and the Senate is the biggest obstacle to that,” he said, adding that past frustrations with the Republican majority body were partially behind his desire to take Murray’s seat. “I have some experience of getting things stopped in the Senate.”

Pedersen said he’ll file the C1 Candidate Registration form with the state as early as this week in order to raise funds for a Senate campaign.

Appointments to ordinarily elected offices are notoriously political and generally slip into the murkier side of the democratic process. The process to fill Murray’s Senate seat won’t officially start until he resigns, although behind the scenes political angling has been going on for months.

Pedersen

As soon as Murray resigns — likely at the end of the month when the mayoral election is certified — King County Democrats chair Karl de Jong will call a meeting of the 43rd district precinct officers. The roughly 160 voting PCO’s will vote up three names to fill the empty Senate seat. Pedersen, himself a 43rd District PCO, tells CHS he has been telling party members for several months he wants the seat.

The three names are ranked, based on PCO votes, and sent to the King County Council for a final decision. The top ranked official almost always gets the appointment.

If Pedersen moves into the Senate, that leaves his House seat open to be filled by appointment. At least three people are actively seeking Pedersen’s seat: Scott Forbes, executive board member of the 43rd Democrats; ACLU attorney Alison Holcomb; and Gates Foundation program officer Brady Walkinshaw.

Like Murray, Pedersen fought hard for the legalization of gay marriage in Washington. He also has his hands full at home as he and spouse Eric Cochran Pedersen try to keep ahead of their four children — including three young triplets.

As for Pedersen’s political aspirations beyond the Senate, he said he has no interest in continuing to follow Murray’s path into local office.

“The legislature is difficult for a lot of politicians, the pay is low, the schedule is challenging. It’s hard for a lot of people to have a different job. But it works really well for me,” he said. “I can live in the district, support my family, and I’m patient enough for the legislature.”

UPDATE: In a Thursday morning press conference, Mayor Mike McGinn announced his concession to Murray in the race for City Hall. “If you look at Mr. Murray’s agenda, that’s the agenda I ran on four years ago,” McGinn said.