Mike Padden, a 33-year resident of the Spokane Valley and former district court judge, returned to the Legislature today when he took the oath of office as the new state senator from the 4th Legislative District. Padden won a Nov. 8 special election to fill the seat that came open earlier this year when Sen. Bob McCaslin resigned for health reasons.
“I am very honored and humbled to be given this opportunity to once again represent my friends and neighbors in the Fourth District,” said Padden, who previously served as a citizen legislator in Olympia for more than 14 years in the state House, starting in 1981. “My goal is to help get state government back on the road to fiscal sanity and sustainable budgets, while protecting our most vulnerable citizens and using my years of experience on the bench to improve our courts and corrections system.”