Brendan Kolding, a Democrat from West Seattle, has announced that he will run for the Washington State House of Representatives. Kolding will seek to represent the 34th District in Position 1 a position currently held by Eileen Cody.

in a press release Kolding outlined his campaign goals:

“My top priority is education,” said Kolding. “It is unacceptable that the State continues to be in violation of its Constitutional obligation to fully fund public K-12 education. The Supreme Court has made it clear that education funding is priority number one within the operating budget, and there is more than enough money to meet the additional four to five billion dollars that is needed. Once education is fully funded, then tough decisions will have to be made regarding cuts to other entities that fall within the operating budget. If the citizens of Washington are willing to accept more taxes to augment the budget, then funding can be restored to the non-education entities, but withholding resources from education until new funding sources can be identified is completely untenable.”

Kolding recognizes that private education plays a complementary role to public education. “Private schools save the taxpayers over $800 million annually. If we can make these schools more accessible to the families who are interested in enrolling their children in them, the funding and class size requirements of McCleary will be easier to attain. It’s a win-win. For that reason, I am proposing legislation that will incentivize donations that support private schools.”

Other priorities on Kolding’s platform include transportation, mental health care/crisis intervention, campaign finance reform and police body-worn cameras.

Kolding is a sergeant with the Seattle Police Department, where he has supervised the Policy Unit throughout the federal consent decree. In 2007-2008, he served as a substitute for Seattle Public Schools. He has a BA from Gonzaga and an MA from Marquette, both in political science. He first ran for the House of Representatives in 2014, when he lost to fellow Democrat Joe Fitzgibbon in the general election.
Kolding, 33, is married with three young children. The family lives in the Delridge neighborhood. Kolding is active in the West Seattle community, serving on the Holy Rosary School Commission and coaching his four-year-old’s basketball team.