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Nick Harper

Democratic Party

Prior offices:

Washington State Senate District 38

Years in office: 2011 - 2013

Education

Bachelor's

University of Washington

Law

Seattle University

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Nick Harper is a formerDemocratic member of theWashington State Senate, representing District 38. He was first elected to the chamber in 2010. Beginning in 2013, Harper served asDeputy Minority Leader. Harper resigned from the senate on November 9, 2013.^[1][2]

Biography

Harper earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington and a J.D. from Seattle University. His background is in land use and housing policy, and he worked as an attorney before being elected to the Senate. He was the Legislative Director for the Snohomish County-Camano Island Association of Realtors, and served as the Snohomish County Conservation Director of the Cascade Land Conservancy.

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Harper served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Harper served on the following committees:

Elections

2010

See also:Washington State Senate elections, 2010

Harper's opponent in the August 17 primary was incumbentJean Berkey. Harper defeated incumbentJean Berkey in the District 38 primary on August 17 by a margin of 7,133-6,547.Rod Rieger (Conservative) was the other candidate to advance out of the primary. Harper defeated Rieger in the general election on November 2.

Across the country in 2010,state senate elections were held in 43 states. 1,167 state senate seats were at stake. In all 1,167 state senate districts with an election in 2010, only 19 challengers (12 Democrats and 7 Republicans) defeated an incumbentstate senator. Harper wasone of the 12 Democratic challengers who defeated an incumbent Democratic state senator.^[3][4]

Washington State Senate, District 38 General Election (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Nick Harper (D)		22,089	59.73%
Rod Rieger (R)		14,892	40.27%

Washington State Senate, District 38 Primary (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Nick Harper (D)		7,193	35.09%
Rod Rieger		6,713	32.75%
Jean Berkey (D)		6,591	32.16 %

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

Missed Votes Report

See also:Washington House of Representatives andWashington State Senate

In March 2014,Washington Votes, a legislative information website, released its annual Missed Votes Report, which provides detailed missed roll call votes on bills for every state legislator during the 2014 legislative session.^[5] The 2014 regular session included a total of 515 votes in theState House and 396 in theState Senate, as well as 1,372 bills introduced total in the legislature and 237 bills passed. Out of all roll call votes, 90 individual legislators did not miss any votes. Three individual legislators missed more than 50 votes.^[5] Harper missed 17 votes in a total of 621 roll calls.

Freedom Foundation

See also:Freedom Foundation's Big Spender List (2012)

The Freedom Foundation releases itsBig Spender List annually. The Institute ranks all Washington legislators based on their total proposed tax and fee increases. To find each legislator’s total, the Institute adds up the 10-year tax increases or decreases, as estimated by Washington’s Office of Financial Management, of all bills sponsored or co-sponsored by that legislator.^[6]

2012

Harper proposed a 10-year increase in state taxes and fees of $1.52 billion, the 9th highest amount of proposed new taxes and fees of the 46Washington state senators on the Freedom Foundation’s 2012 Big Spender List.^[7]

See also: Washington Freedom Foundation Legislative Scorecard (2012)

TheFreedom Foundation also issued its2012 Informed Voter Guide for Washington State voters, including a legislative score card documenting how Washington State legislators voted upon bills the Foundation deemed important legislation. The legislation analyzed covered budget, taxation, and pension issues.^[8] Aa sign indicates a bill more in line with the Foundation's stated goals, and ad sign indicates a bill out of step with the Foundation's values. Here's how Harper voted on the specific pieces of legislation:

2012 Senate Scorecard - Nick Harper
Bill #6636 (Balanced budget requirement)a	Bill #5967 (Senate Republicans budget)a	Bill #6582 (Local transportation tax increases)d	Bill #6378 (Pension reforms)a
N	N	Y	N

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Harper lives with his wife, Lacey, in Everett, Washington.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google News search for the term "Nick + Harper + Washington + Senate"

All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.

External links

Suggest a link

• Harper's official campaign website
• Nick Harper on the Washington State Senate website(dead link)
• Nick Harper's biography on Project Vote Smart
• Campaign contributions:2012,2010
• Nick Harper on Facebook

Footnotes

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