Former Snoqualmie Councilman Jim Mayhew to Run for State Senate

Democrat Jim Mayhew, formerly of the Snoqualmie City Council, will run for the 12th legislative district.

For now, anyway, Mayhew is the lone candidate in the race. To the surprise of many, incumbent State Sen. Brad Hawkins announced on Monday that he will not stand for reelection. Hawkins, a two-term Republican, is instead vying for a seat on the Chelan County Commission.

Mayhew learned about this from Hawkins directly.

"Brad gave me a call yesterday, so we had a chance to talk about it," Mayhew says. "He's a class act for doing that."

As recently as mid-March, Mayhew resided in the 5th legislative district. Then came a ruling from a federal judge that dramatically altered the political boundaries of the region.

"I did a whole bunch of double takes when I saw the [new] district," Mayhew says. "It's an amazing district that has been drawn here."

About half of the reconfigured 12th district lies east of the Cascade Mountains. The other half encompasses swaths of Snoqualmie and King counties.

As it stands the district has no Democratic representation in Olympia. This is partly what spurred Mayhew to run for the open seat.

"There's a bunch of stuff I disagree with those guys on," Mayhew says of Hawkins and Representatives Mike Steele and Keith Goehner.

In a previous life (2017 to 2023), Mayhew served on the Snoqualmie City Council. He developed a reputation as a persnickety disciplinarian, especially on fiscal matters. Not everyone in city government appreciated his insistent calls for budgetary restraint.

Mayhew also enjoyed a long career in finance, most recently as CFO at a translation and localization firm.