Senate Republicans elect new caucus chair, vice chair, deputy whip

OLYMPIA…During their reorganization meeting this morning in Spokane, members of the Senate Republican Caucus elected 13th District Sen. Judy Warnick as their caucus chair and 10th District Sen. Ron Muzzall as caucus vice chair.

Warnick had served as caucus vice chair since 2017. As caucus chair, Warnick will preside over internal meetings of the Senate Republican Caucus and help develop caucus strategy during the 2022 legislative session.

“It’s an honor to be chosen by my Republican colleagues as their caucus chair,” said Warnick, R-Moses Lake. “My years as caucus vice chair have given me the experience to serve in this new position. I look forward to continuing to work with the rest of Senate Republican leadership on ways to help us reach our goals next session and beyond for the people of Washington state.”

As vice chair, Muzzall will help preside at internal meetings of the caucus and coordinate committee activities as liaison between leadership and committee chairs. Before being elected as vice caucus chair, Muzzall served the past two years as a deputy whip for the Senate Republicans.

“I’ve enjoyed being part of our caucus leadership team the past two years and I’m honored to be selected to this new position, said Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor. “There will be many important issues for the Legislature to address next session, so it will be important to work hard toward promoting a transparent and responsive state government and doing what we can to stop bad policies that make our communities less safe and less prosperous.”

Senate Republicans also elected 16th District Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg, as deputy whip, replacing Muzzall.

The 2022 legislative session begins Jan. 10 and is scheduled to last 60 days.