On October 2nd, 2013, longtime Washington State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz announced that he would be retiring as of February 1st, 2014, the date of the next meeting of the Washington State Democratic Committee, which will be held in America’s Vancouver. Pelz expects his successor to be elected at that time.

The following individuals have announced their candidacies for chair:

• Jay Clough, former legislative and congressional candidate and current Chair of Chairs (Facebook page)
• Dana Laurent, Win/Win Network executive director and former Political Director for Planned Parenthood Votes (Facebook page)
• Jim Kainber, former executive director of the Washington State Democratic Party and lobbyist (Facebook page)
• Jaxon Ravens, the current executive director of the Washington State Democratic Party (Facebook page)

At one point the race had a fifth candidate: Nancy Biery, former State Director of Outreach for Maria Cantwell and Special Advisor to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke (Facebook page). She withdrew from the race in mid-December 2013.

Access questionnaires

Each of the four candidates was asked to fill out a candidate questionnaire created by Effective Democrats. The completed questionnaires are divided into six sections (Candidate Background and Experience, Priorities and Fundraising, Party Governance and Management, Campaigns and Elections, Partybuilding, Organizing and Outreach, Technology) and are available for download here. You must register or login to access the questionnaires.