Tri-Cities councilwoman must step down after just 4 months

Pasco City Councilwoman Nikki Torres changed her voter registration address to one north of the Pasco city limits just four months after taking office and will be resigning from her council seat.

The new address switches her to Legislative District 15, where she has filed for its Washington state Senate seat.

She told the Tri-City Herald on Tuesday that she plans to resign from the council on Monday.

Torres changed her address May 3, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office.

She filed for the Senate seat held by Republican Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside late in the filing week of May 16-20.

Honeyford, who has been a state senator since 1999, also filed and appeared to be a shoe-in for another term until his surprise withdrawal from the race Monday, May 23. It was the last day to withdraw from the race and too late for other challengers to file.

Torres, a Republican, was his only challenger who filed, and he has endorsed her.

She said that she did not know that Honeyford would retire when she filed for his seat. She had heard rumors that he was ready to retire, but then he filed for the election, she said.

She told the Tri-City Herald that she wanted to build on the lot north of the city and saw that it was within Legislative District 15. She also had a goal of continuing in an elected office, she said.

Currently she represents District 3 in Pasco, a position previously held by former Mayor Saul Martinez, who opted not to seek re-election in November.

She had initially hoped to continue serving on the council, but learned that she could not legally do that. The city code requires officials to reside in the city district they serve, she said.

If elected to the state Senate she would continue to work on some of the same issues that have concerned her as a councilwoman — affordable housing, support for law enforcement and mental health — but on a statewide level, she said.

She also is interested in continuing to work on agriculture, water rights and commerce issues as Honeyford has done, she said.

Torres is a strategic partnerships manager for Western Governors University and a past president of the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

She also has been a board member of Tri-Cities Community Health, Visit Tri-Cities and the Kennewick Police Department Foundation.

When she ran for city council she said leadership was needed to put Pasco on a path to full recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This requires an experienced collaborator who will support smart growth, address affordable housing through permitting and zoning, and promote policies that will entice new businesses and manufacturing to our city,” she wrote in the Voters’ Guide.

This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 12:54 PM.