Donn Charnley (April 3, 1928 – February 5, 2023) was an American politician in the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Charnley served in the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

and

Washington State Senate The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Legislative Building in Olymp ...

as a Democrat from the 1st and 44th Districts from 1971 until 1985. In his second stint in the House 1983–1985, Charnley served as the Majority Whip.

Early life and career

Charnely was born in Detroit to journalism professor Mitchell Charnley and writer Margery “Peg” Lindsay. He graduated from Broadway High School in Seattle in 1945. Charnley graduated with a bachelor's and masters degree in Geology from the University of Washington, and later a mater's degree in Educational Psychology from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1965. In 1964, Charnley started teaching at Shoreline Community College, retiring in 1996. After spending his first ten years in the Seattle Public Schools including a time at West Seattle High School.

Political career

Charnley ran for and was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1970 in the 44th Legislative District Pos.1 . He served in this position until 1980. During this time served on the Transportation Committee and Local Government Committee. In 1980, Charnley was elected to the Washingotn State Senate, serving until 1983. In 1982, Charnley was reelected to the State House in the 1st LD. In 1984, Charnley unsuccessfully ran for the State Senate in the 1st LD against

Bill Kiskaddon William V. Kiskaddon (December 14, 1929 – December 3, 2015) was an American politician, social worker, and engineer who served in the Washington House of Representatives and Washington State Senate as a Republican. He was an engineer for Boeing ...

by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin.

References

*http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/results_report.aspx?e=&c=Charnley&c2=&t=&t2=&p=&p2=&y= *http://leg.wa.gov/History/Legislative/Documents/Pictorial_Phone/1983TelephoneDirectory.pdf 1928 births 2023 deaths Politicians from Detroit Democratic Party Washington (state) state senators Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives University of Washington alumni University of Minnesota alumni {{Washington-politician-stub