Biography

Bob Hasegawa is a lifelong resident of the 11th Legislative District. He grew up on Beacon Hill in Seattle and graduated from Cleveland High School. He has also lived in the Riverton Heights area of Tukwila and the Maplewood Heights area of Renton, but currently lives in the house he grew up in on Beacon Hill.

He is a longtime labor and social justice activist. He led many workers struggles, winning top wages and benefits for working families and retirees, and he collaborated in many social justice struggles to protect civil rights, democracy, the environment and our constitutional rights.

For 32 years, Bob was a member of the Teamsters Union, where he rose through the ranks to become the elected leader of the largest Teamster trucking industry and general workers local union in the Pacific Northwest (Teamsters Local 174) for three terms (nine years), and was also a leader in the national Teamsters pro-union democracy reform movement, Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

As a union/community organizer, Bob has long sought to build bridges between social justice organizations, particularly those serving the labor, environmental, religious and Asian Pacific Islander communities. He was a founding member and has served on the local and national executive boards of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance AFL-CIO, the King County Labor Council and other boards of community-based organizations. He continues to serve on two boards at the University of Washington (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies and the Dan Evans School of Public Policy and Governance), and the Japanese American Citizens League.

Bob is the Senate Democratic Caucus Majority Chair. His Senate committees include Rules; Ways & Means; State Government; Tribal Relations & Elections; and Financial Institutions, Economic Development & Trade (vice chair).  He is also a member of several committees that serve the people: Legislative Committee on Economic Development and International Relations (LCEDIR), Joint Legislative Audit and Review (JLARC), Joint Administrative Rules Review(JARRC), Election Administration and Certification Board, the Washington-Hyogo Friendship Council, and is the SDC Delegate to the Pacific NW Economic Region (PNWER).

Bob believes in lifelong learning. After graduating high school, he went on to the University of Washington where he studied physics. He later graduated from Antioch University Seattle with dual areas of concentration in labor relations and organizational and social change. He holds an AA degree in labor studies from Shoreline Community College, studied information technology at Seattle Central Community College, and is a seasoned professional commercial truck driver, certified transit operator, and journey-level operating engineer (heavy construction equipment operator). Bob also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Dan Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Since he began representing the 11th Legislative District in 2005, first in the House of Representatives through 2012 and now in the Senate. Bob’s priorities have centered on serving as a voice for working families, small businesses and disenfranchised communities.