Shasti Conrad elected Washington State Democratic Party chair

Conrad is the youngest and first Indian American woman to serve as a state party chair in US

The Washington State Democratic Party has chosen Shasti Conrad as its new chair, making her the youngest and first Indian-American woman to serve as a state Democratic party chair in the US.

Conrad, 38, a political consultant and former leader of the King County Democrats, was elected chair by affirmation on Saturday at the state party’s reorganization meeting and officer elections event. She succeeds Tina Podlodowski, who had served as chair since 2017.

Read: Harmeet Dhillon fails to win Republican leadership contest (January 28, 2023)

“I’m so honored to have the opportunity to serve as Chair of our state party and build on the outstanding success Washington Democrats have earned at the ballot box for the last six years,” said Conrad after her election.

“I’m excited to work with Democratic leaders from every community to build an unprecedented field operation that will carry the message of how Washington Democrats are delivering for working families to each and every voter.”

Conrad assumes leadership of an organization whose voter contact operation has played a key role in Democrats’ statewide electoral dominance since the 2016 election, according to a party press release.

In the last six years, Washington Democrats have won control of every statewide elected office, flipped two Congressional seats, flipped the state Senate, and grown their legislative majorities in each of the last three election cycles–all while electing the most diverse cohort of state legislators in Washington’s history, the statement noted.

Conrad has worked on political campaigns since 2008, when she got her start as a field organizer working for then-Senator Obama’s primary campaign, it stated. Since then, she’s worked on three more presidential races and concluded the 2020 cycle as Senator Bernie Sanders’ National Director of Surrogates.

Locally, she served as Chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Democrats from 2018 to 2022, where she raised nearly $300,000 for a county party organization mired in debt when she first took office.

Under her leadership, the King County Democrats’ field operation helped flip six city councils and a County Council seat held by Republicans for twenty years.

As a political consultant working with candidate campaigns and PACs across the country, Conrad has earned several awards for her work producing virtual fundraisers during the height of the pandemic.

“After six years serving as the Chair of the Washington Democrats, I’m thrilled to pass on the torch to my friend Shasti Conrad.” said Podlodowski, the outgoing party chair.

“Shasti has been a force in Washington Democratic politics for over a decade as a staffer on three presidential campaigns and a successful chair of the largest county party organization in the state,”

Conrad earned the prestigious Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants in 2022 for Sen. Patty Murray’s Golden Tennis Shoe Awards, and in 2021 for her work with Opportunity PAC and Lift Every Voice.

Read: Indian-American elected Washington State Democratic Party Chair (January 30, 2023)

She has also been recognized by the AAPC as one of the organization’s “40 under 40” and one of the most influential people in Seattle Politics by Seattle Met Magazine.

She received her Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University and her BA with Honors distinction from Seattle University.