Ken Jacobsen was a Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the State Senate in Washington, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He was first elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1982.

Political History

He was elected to represent the 46th Legislative District in the Washington State House of Representatives in 1982 and was subsequently reelected for six more terms. He was appointed (and subsequently elected) to the State Senate in 1997, and served as Senator though 2010. He served as the Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman in 2003, the Majority Caucus Vice Chairman in 1999 and 2001, and he is a former chair of the House Higher Education Committee. He was the chair of the Senate Natural Resources, Oceans and Recreation Committee, and also served on the Transportation Committee, the Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Committee.

District

Senator Jacobsen's district, the 46th, is located in North Seattle. It encompasses the neighborhoods of Wedgwood

Wedgwood, Seattle, Washington

Wedgwood is a middle class residential neighborhood of northeast Seattle, Washington, with a modest commercial strip. Wedgwood is located about two miles north, and slightly east, of the University of Washington; it is about six miles northeast of Downtown...

, View Ridge

View Ridge, Seattle, Washington

View Ridge is a neighborhood in north Seattle, Washington. As with all Seattle neighborhoods, its boundaries are not fixed, but can be thought of as NE 65th Street in the south, 40th and 45th Avenues NE in the west, the Sand Point Country Club in the north, and Sand Point Way NE in the east. Many...

, Sand Point

Sand Point, Seattle, Washington

Sand Point is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, named after and consisting mostly of the Sand Point peninsula that juts into Lake Washington, which is itself largely given over to Magnuson Park. Its southern boundary can be said to be N.E. 65th Street, beyond which are...

, Roosevelt

Roosevelt, Seattle, Washington

Roosevelt is a neighborhood in north Seattle, Washington. Its main thoroughfare, originally 10th Avenue, was renamed Roosevelt Way upon Theodore Roosevelt's death in 1919...

, Northgate

Northgate, Seattle, Washington

Northgate is an informal district of neighborhoods in north urban Seattle, Washington, named for and surrounding Northgate Mall, the first covered mall in the United States....

, Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf, Seattle, Washington

Maple Leaf is a mostly residential neighborhood in Seattle, originally a rural suburb named Maple Leaf Addition to the Green Lake Tract or Green Lake Circle...

, and Lake City

Lake City, Seattle, Washington

Lake City is the northeast region of Seattle, centered along Lake City Way NE , 7–8 miles northeast of downtown. A broader definition of the Lake City area includes all the land between 15th Avenue NE and Lake Washington, and between NE 85th and 98th streets to the Seattle city limits at NE 145th...

.

Personal

Born in Dannebrog, Nebraska

Dannebrog, Nebraska

Dannebrog is a village in Howard County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Grand Island, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 352 at the 2000 census...

, of "Postcard from Nebraska" fame and raised in northeast Seattle, Senator Jacobsen enjoys bird watching, hummingbird and butterfly gardening. He has been married to Rachel Jacobsen, a teacher from New Zealand, for 38 years. They have two daughters, Sonja (Wellesley College, 1999, University of Washington School of Law, 2007) and Kiri (Tulane University, 2000).

Recent Awards and Recognition

Glenn Galbreath Spirit Award, 2006; Stanley O. McNaughton Leadership Award, 2002; Survivors of the Holocaust Asset Recovery Project of Washington—Honorary Board Member; Northwest Dollars for Scholars Community Hero Award. Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire declared May 22, 2009 Ken Jacobsen day in the State of Washington.

Civic Organizations

Board member of Scholarship America and Washington Dollars for Scholars; U.S. Foundation of the Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala; Friends of the University of Washington Library; Seattle Audubon Society; American Indian Endowment Committee; Ravenna & Thornton Creek Alliances'; Bring the Purple Martin Back to Seattle Committee; Education Advisory Committee Nordic Heritage Museum; Founder of the Annual Raoul Wallenberg Dinner. Lifelong member of the Disabled American Veterans.