Louws announces he won’t pursue third term as county executive

Whatcom County executive Jack Louws has announced that he will not be seeking re-election.

Louws’ term ends in January 2020. When he leaves office, he’ll have served as county executive for eight years. The primary election for the next county executive will be in August of this year, followed by a general election in November. Karen Burke, executive director of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County (DVSAS), announced her intention to run for the open position.

Louws served on Lynden City Council from 1990 to 1994 and was the mayor of Lynden from 2002 to 2010.

“My years of public service to Whatcom County have gone by quickly and I feel blessed to have been able to service the community I love,” Louws said in a press release.

Louws was elected as county executive in November 2011 and took office in January 2012. He was re-elected in 2015 to serve a second term.

The Whatcom County executive is the leader of the executive branch of county government. It is a non-partisan position with a four-year term. According to the Whatcom County website, it is the executive’s responsibility to provide government accountability and administration.

The Whatcom County Executive’s Office said Louws will be continuing work on existing projects until the end of his term. After he leaves office, Louws plans to travel and to continue to support his community.

“At the end of my term I’ll be turning over the reins to a new administration. I intend to do whatever I can to make sure that the transition is a smooth one,” Louws said in a press release.

Burke announced she will be running for county executive on February 12. She is a graduate of Western Washington University and University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs and has been the executive director of DVSAS since 2007. Before DVSAS, she was the director of the Lummi Nation Tribal Court where she managed and developed social assistance programs. Burke said she is running with the hope of making government more accessible.

“I think it’s time in government we start hearing from more voices,” Burke said. “I feel like government has been a closed-door system for a while, but in the past two years it feels like some of those doors are opening up.”

In her 18 years of executive leadership, Burke said she has made it her goal to bring people from different backgrounds together to find solutions to difficult problems. She hopes this experience will translate to responsibilities of county executive.

“I am ready to work with our residents and partners to find and implement the right answers to local issues: affordable housing, living wage jobs, criminal justice reform and crime prevention, rural transportation and technology access, water quality and capacity, land use, and economic development,” Burke said.