EVERETT, Wash., October 29, 2023—Representative Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) spoke at a fundraiser at Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant in Everett on Thursday, October 26, to share his priorities with supporters in his race for Washington State Governor.

Mullet is endorsed by Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, State Senator John Lovick, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, and several other Senators, along with Representatives and City Council members across Washington.

He shared that his priorities going into the race are public safety and affordability.

“I don’t think it’s fair to expect cities and counties to solve this problem on their own,” Mullet told the Lynnwood Times. “I think the state is the one who has the revenue growth, and we need to start sharing our tax growth with cities so we can actually make meaningful progress in public safety.

As for “affordability” Mullet clarifies to mean “affordable living, affordable gas, affordable taxes…it’s all of the above,” he explained. Just one of his solutions to tackle affordable housing is to lower the cost of obtaining a building permit.

“I’m one hundred percent convinced that will make housing affordable. I’m one hundred percent convinced that we could fight climate change without having the highest gas prices in the country, and I’m one hundred percent convinced that we can’t keep solving every problem by creating a new tax,” said Mullet. “Every tax, not one on its own, but once you start adding them it that slowly makes a state unaffordable.”

Mullet shared that his own property tax has doubled in the last fifteen years and fears it may double again in the next fifteen years if something doesn’t change. If it doesn’t, he said rent will go up, the cost of housing ownership will go up and that’s not sustainable for affordability.

He believes the public should vote for him, over his opponents, because he has a track record of working with rural and urban areas, in both Eastern and Western Washington, to come up with solutions that people in the entire state are proud to support. He used the example of the State Construction Budget, of which he chairs in Olympia, passing 49 to 0 because he went out of his way to listen to people at every corner of the state to listen to their needs.

“You could have the exact same thing at the Governor’s Office, where we’re listening to people regardless of geographical location, regardless of political affiliation,” said Mullet. “I think the other candidates in the race will make their party happy but not everybody happy. I’m here to be that leadership in the Governor’s Office that can make everybody happy. 

Jared Mead, the Snohomish County Council Chair, opened the evening with a few words about Mullet, who he is proud to endorse.

Mead shared the story of when he first met Mullet, during his first week working in Olympia for State Senator Steve Hobbs. At the time he was a “giddy 22-year-old college student” excited and nervous to be working with a bunch of Senators in historically rich buildings. However, he quickly noticed a “holier than thou hierarchy” between Senators and assistants such as himself at the time. While Hobbs would introduce him to his friends, who were also Senators, many of them would “look right through” him, he said, not wanting to give their time of day. But not Mark Mullet.

Mullet was the only Senator, aside from Hobbs, who came across like he cared that he just met him, Mead shared, going out of his way to get to know him. About two days later, Mead passed by Mullet’s office, and he greeted him by name.

Mead shared this story to exemplify that Mullet “doesn’t think he’s better than anyone else.”

“We’re lucky enough to be in a great restaurant right now and the owner will probably agree that you can learn a lot about the character of someone, in the service industry, based on how they treat the servers, the staff, the people who they make think they’re a higher status than but that’s never been Mark,” said Mead.

A little later Mead was elected to the state house and was now working alongside Mullet. It was then that he was able to see how Mullet worked as a decision-maker, which he said was “equally if not more impressive than his character.”

“When I look for a leader, a decision maker who I want to support I look for three things: humility, curiosity, and courageousness,” said Mead adding that Mullet demonstrates each of these characteristics to a T.

In addition to Jared Mead Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin was also in attendance.

About Mark Mullet

Mark Mullet grew up in Tukwila under the principles that if you can work hard and play by the rules you can be successful. But now with wages not keeping with inflation and skyrocketing housing and healthcare costs, he said making ends meet is out of reach for many.

Growing up Mullet’s father was a contractor and his mother worked as an officer manager for a local elementary school. When Mark was still in middle school, he began working for his father’s construction business where he worked throughout college.

After college Mullet began his career in finance, returning to Washington to start his family to offer them the promise and opportunity Washington has to offer.

He eventually opened a pizza restaurant and a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop in 2009, offering health care benefits to all of his full-time staff.

Mullet lives in Issaquah with his wife Kelley and six children. Seeing firsthand the work that his wife does as an elementary school teacher, the public school system is also a priority of his, advocating for tens of billions of dollars for the public school system during his time in Senate.

To learn more about Mullet’s platform and campaign visit: https://www.mulletforgovernor.com/

FEATURED IMAGE: Mark Mullet campaign