Serrano sworn in as interim Eastern WA U.S. Attorney. Search is on for new mayor
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pete Serrano sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington in 2025.
- Pasco council must appoint new mayor and District 4 member after Serrano's exit.
- Serrano to lead 79-member DOJ team handling federal cases across Eastern Washington.
Pete Serrano resigned Sunday as mayor of Pasco and was sworn in Monday as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
He was appointed last week by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to fill the post as the top federal prosecutor for this half of the state. His appointment will require confirmation from the U.S. Senate to become official.
In the meantime, he will supervise the prosecution of all federal crimes and the litigation of federal civil matters in Eastern Washington, leading a team of 79 prosecutors, civil litigators and support staff.
The Department of Justice’s Eastern District is based in Spokane, with offices also in Richland and Yakima.
Serrano, 44, has championed conservative issues ranging from anti-COVID vaccine mandates to gun rights through a small Pasco nonprofit, the Silent Majority Foundation, that he co-founded in 2021.
Before that beginning in 2018, he worked at the Energy Northwest nuclear power plant near Richland, including on permitting issues for small modular nuclear reactors, said a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Serrano also was an attorney for the Department of Energy focusing on environmental law from 2015-2018.
He will be the third person to serve as Eastern Washington’s U.S. Attorney since the start of the second Trump Administration nearly seven months ago.
“I’m grateful and humbled by the confidence and trust extended to me by President Trump and Attorney General Bondi through this appointment,” he said in a news release.
Picking a new mayor
Serrano served on the Pasco council since 2018 and was elected as mayor by his fellow council members in January 2024.
The council is expected to vote in the coming weeks on the mostly ceremonial mayoral post for the rapidly growing city of 80,000.
Mayor Pro Tem David Milne will serve as mayor until the council decides. Then the new mayor will serve until the end of the year.
In addition, the council must appoint a new person to fill Serrano’s District 4 open position.
He was running unopposed this year for another four years on the council, so his name will still appear on the November ballot.
The Pasco City Council has up to 90 days to name someone. Applications for the position are expected soon on the city website.
That person will serve until the end of this year, and 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.
Voters will get to choose their own replacement in November 2027.
This story was originally published August 11, 2025 at 6:12 PM.
