Pasco to name ex-mayor’s replacement. What happens if he wins Nov. election?
Only Pete Serrano’s name will appear on the November ballot for Pasco’s District 4 city council seat.
Serrano resigned as Pasco mayor and council member for District 4 on Aug. 10 before taking the job as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
The city council is set to select his replacement for District 4 next week.
He can serve 120 days before he must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. If he is not confirmed, the interim appointment will end Dec. 9.
Come election day on Nov. 4, Serrano will be the only candidate on the ballot for District 4.
It’s likely that he’ll win the election, unless a majority of voters name a write-in candidate.
He’ll have to decide whether to accept or resign from the position again.
Is Serrano at risk of not being confirmed?
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray opposes Serrano’s selection as U.S. District Attorney and plans to use a “blue slip” process to block his confirmation, the Washington State Standard reported on Aug. 28.
A blue slip allows senators to block the advancement of nominees for U.S. attorney and federal judge positions in their states.
Once a president makes a nomination, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee sends a consent form, known as a blue slip, to the two senators in the nominee’s home state.
If the forms are signed and returned, the process continues. If they are not, it signals a lack of support and the chair will not advance the nominee.
“Pete Serrano has tried to rewrite the history of the violent January 6th insurrection, thinks the Supreme Court overturning Roe and allowing states to pass criminal abortion bans was ‘the right decision,’ and has fought in court to unleash dangerous assault weapons on our streets,” Murray said in a statement to the State Standard.
“His extreme right-wing views are far out of step with the people of Washington state, and I will be using every legislative tool I have to block his confirmation,” she said.
Separately, Democrats are trying to bring consideration of Trump nominees to a halt, reported the Courthouse News Service.
The Senate’s GOP leadership is responding by attempting to implement a rules change that would allow lawmakers to consider nominees in large batches to speed up confirmations. It allows for a simple majority vote, rather than the two-thirds majority that’s usually required.
If Serrano isn’t confirmed by the Senate, officials at the Franklin County Auditor’s Office say that Serrano would still able to accept the District 4 position. He still qualifies.
Serrano told the Tri-City Herald that he is “100% focused on being confirmed” and that he’ll see how the election plays out.
What’s the Pasco council doing now?
The Pasco City Council will soon appoint a new council member to represent District 4.
That person will serve until the end of this year.
The candidates are:
- Tanya Bowers – Bowers is a former Pacific Northwest National Laboratory administrator. She most recently worked at PNNL for four years as its DEI/equal employment opportunity manager. She was a member and chair of the Pasco Planning Commission from 2015-2022. She ran unsuccessfully for the Port of Pasco commission last year.
- Abel Campos – Campos is a former member of the Pasco Planning Commission.
- Joe Cotta – Cotta is the lead pastor at Harvest Valley Calvary Chapel in Prosser. He ran in 2022 for a seat in the state Legislature in District 8. He was defeated by Rep. April Connors.
- Patrick Jones – Jones is a current member of the Pasco Planning Commission.
The council will interview the four finalists at a meeting on Sept. 15 that’s open to the public.
Then the council will have to go through the same process again and name someone to fill the new two-year term that begins in January 2026, unless Serrano wins and accepts the District 4 seat. Voters will get to choose their own replacement in November 2027.
