Jamie Pedersen
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Jamie Pedersen is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Washington who serves as a member of the Washington House of Representatives.
A Democrat, he was elected to the House from the reliably Democratic 43rd District in downtown Seattle in 2006. He won a very competitive six-way Democratic primary election on September 19, 2006 with 23% of the vote. His nearest competitor, former Seattle City Council President Jim Street, was only 229 votes behind with 22%. The race was the most expensive House contest in Washington state history, with the six Democratic candidates raising almost $500,000 among them. In the general election, he faced only nominal Republican opposition, defeating his opponent by a margin of more than four-to-one.
Having grown up in Puyallup, Washington, Pedersen attended Puyallup High School before graduating summa cum laude from Yale. He then went to Yale Law School and has been a lawyer ever since. Pedersen was an active member of the Yale Russian Chorus while an undergraduate and law student, and remains active in the Alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus.
Pedersen is openly gay; his partner is Eric Cochran, a high-school assistant principal. He was Lambda Legal's lead volunteer lawyer on the state's gay marriage case - Andersen v. King County. He replaced openly gay Rep. Ed Murray in the House - Murray having moved up to the state senate. His election campaign won the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which provided financial and strategic assistance.
