On March 11, Seattle consumer protection and civil rights attorney Dan Shih announced his candidacy as a Democrat for House Position 1 in the 43rd Legislative District. This is the seat being vacated by Brady Walkinshaw, who is running for Congress.
Shih, the child of Chinese immigrants, was born and raised in the Seattle area. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in computer science and has advanced degrees in economics and law from Stanford University. Shih and his husband Ted are raising three daughters in the Eastlake neighborhood.
“I am running for the Washington State Legislature because I want to help pass Democratic and progressive legislation that makes people’s lives better and improves opportunities for everyone in the state,” Shih said in a statement.
After clerking for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Shih returned to Seattle to practice law at Susman Godfrey, where he is a partner. Shih also volunteers his legal services, including in cases involving constitutional issues and LGBT rights.
Shih serves on several nonprofit boards, including the ACLU of Washington and API Chaya. He has been an advocate for civil rights, communities of color, and the LGBT community. His campaign platform is focused on education.
“Properly funding K–12 education is my number one priority,” Shih said in a statement. “As a parent with children in the Seattle Public Schools system, I believe we cannot afford to delay any longer. The state’s failure to fully fund K–12 education threatens to have a lasting impact on an entire generation of children who depend on our public schools as their gateway to opportunity.”
In addition to funding K–12 education, Shih’s other legislative priorities include making college and vocational school more affordable, expanding computer science programs so that graduates can participate in our region’s technological boom, addressing the housing crisis by giving local governments more authority to deal with housing issues unique to their jurisdiction and getting more affordable housing built, protecting the environment and encouraging clean energy use, helping working people earn more, expanding public transit, protecting reproductive rights, curbing gun violence, and improving the criminal justice system.