Meet Frank

Dear friends,

My wife Nancy and I are long-time citizen activists. We have always had a passion for our community. Nancy serves as the Executive Director of an organization that supports non-profit agencies.

For many years, I served as an Executive Director of the Fremont Public Association (now known as Solid Ground), helping tens of thousands of low-income people every year. I also served as Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives, where I led the longest Democratic majority in state history. Together, we made historic gains in access to healthcare, funding for transit, investment in public education, and so much more.

As your State Representative, I am working hard to carry out a progressive agenda for the people of our District and Washington State which includes:

• Funding Basic Education
• Promoting Opportunity for All
• Ensuring Health Care for All
• Strengthening the Safety Net
• Providing Affordable Housing
• Standing up for Working People
• Protecting the Environment

With your help, we can enact real progressive change and pass common sense progressive policies for the common good. It has been an honor to serve as your representative and I ask for your continued support.

— Frank Chopp

More about me…

I grew up in a close-knit family in Bremerton, Washington. My parents met on a picket line outside the coal mines in Roslyn, Washington, where my Dad started working at age 12. They grew to hate how the coal companies treated their workers, and after years of strikes, my parents moved to Bremerton. My Dad got a job as a union electrician in the Bremerton Naval Shipyard and my Mom worked in a public school cafeteria.

Throughout my career, I have always against poverty and for working families. After graduating from the University of Washington, I worked as a community organizer fighting for a wide array of human services, health care programs, and affordable housing. These passions led me to serve for many years as Executive Director of the Fremont Public Association (now known as Solid Ground). At these and other non-profit organizations, I was able to help tens of thousands of low-income people every year.

After many years at the Fremont Public Association, I ran for the legislature to advocate for working families and social justice. As Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives, I led the longest Democratic majority in state history. Together, we made historic gains in access to healthcare, passed record investments in education, public transit, and affordable housing, repealed DOMA, and enacted landmark reforms to law enforcement and our state’s anti-discrimination laws.

Affordable Housing

• Co-founded Washington State’s Housing Trust Fund, which has invested over a billion dollars in affordable, non-profit housing across the state, including 100 apartment buildings in and close to the 43rd District.
  
• Initiated the Home and Hope project, which has acquired over 20 major public properties for building hundreds of units of affordable housing in Seattle.
  
• Co-founded the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) which has developed thousands of non-profit, rent restricted apartment units.
• Co-founded the Seattle Tenants Union to advocate for and educate renters on their rights.

Survival Services

• Organized and co-chaired the Coalition for Survival Services, an alliance of 50 community health clinics, emergency shelters, and food banks, which acquired millions of dollars for a Survival Services Fund.
• Initiated and oversaw the development of the Food Resources Network to organize public and private support for food banks, including a Baby Boost program which provides new mothers and infants with proper nutrition.
• Expanded and oversaw the operations of the Fremont Food Bank, which served thousands of hungry people each year.
• Co-initiated and operated two shelter programs, the Broadview Emergency Shelter, and the Family Shelter Program, serving over 1000 homeless people each year.

Health and Long-term Care

• Initiated and implemented Apple Health for All Kids, providing free, single-payer healthcare to half of all young people in Washington State (including undocumented kids).
  
• Passed Cascade Care, the first state-level public option in the nation, to provide an alternative to private health insurance plans.
• Enacted best in the nation legislation for paid family leave and long term care trusts.
  
• Sponsored and operated an AIDS Home Care Project at the Fremont Public Association, providing assistance to hundreds of people with AIDS in King County.
  
• Organized the successful $1.4 million grant application (working with the Seattle-King County Health Department) for a Health Care for the Homeless Project.

Combating Climate Change

• Passed the 100% Clean Electricity Mandate – one of the strongest clean energy transition mandates in America.
  
• Raised taxes on oil companies to increase the clean-up of toxic sites through the Model Toxics Control Act.
  
• Enacted legislation to strengthen energy codes for buildings to reduce emissions and improve efficiency.
  
• Enacted legislation to ban the use of several toxic chemicals including PFAS and hydrofluorocarbons, two major greenhouse gases.
  

Racial Justice

• Passed legislation to put Initiative 970 on the ballot, which increased police accountability by making it easier to prosecute police misconduct.
  
• Enacted legislation to eliminate the use of juvenile detention for non-criminal behavior.
  
• Enacted the Dream Act and Dream Act 2.0 to provide financial aid to undocumented students, including free college and university tuition.

LGBTQ+ Rights

• Created the first LGBTQ State Commission in 2019 to ensure state government is inclusive and equitable.
  
• Enacted legislation to help prevent bullying of transgender students in public schools
  
• Enacted legislation to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination in healthcare plans
  
• Passed the Reproductive Parity Act to require health insurers to cover reproductive healthcare.
  
• Enacted legislation to ban so-called “conversion therapy.”

Welfare & Social Services

• Proposed a Community Jobs program to help thousands of welfare recipients find employment at non-profit agencies across Washington.
  
• Enacted “Breakfast After the Bell” to provide nutritious food for low-income students.
• Provided sponsorship and acquired funding for the state-wide Welfare Reform Coalition, which advocated for the poor at the State Legislature.
• Co-Initiated the Fremont Legal Clinic staffed with volunteer attorneys providing legal counseling free of charge to low-income people.

Organized Labor

• Personally organized three collective bargaining units for office workers, home care workers, and public transit drivers.
  
• Built a “Green Power-Blue Collar” coalition of environmentalists and electrical workers to pass landmark clean energy legislation.
  

Transportation

• Authorized the Sound Transit 3 vote, which voters approved to invest $50 billion in new light rail and rapid bus lines across the Puget Sound region.
• Co-initiated and oversaw the operations of Seattle Personal Transit, which provides transportation for hundreds of low-income elderly and people with disabilities.
• Organized opposition to the original, now discredited plan for the West Seattle Freeway in 1974, collecting over 20,000 signatures within a month to refer the issue to the voters, and alerting the public to the enormous costs and corruption involved.

Art and Historic Preservation

• Organized the effort to fund the famous Richard Beyer sculpture, “Waiting for the Interurban,” which has been proclaimed by various media as the most popular public art work in Seattle. Organized several neighborhood art projects including large public murals, “artists-in-residence,” and more in several communities.
• Initiated and organized the community effort which convinced the City of Seattle to officially designate as a historic landmark, the Fremont Building, which laid the groundwork for the privately-financed restoration of the former hotel.
• Co-initiated “Citizens for a Better Seattle,” which gained voter approval for a $25 million property tax levy for the new downtown Seattle Art Museum.