The King County Council unanimously selected Dino Rossi on the afternoon of Dec. 5 to fill the 45th District Senate vacancy and replace the late Sen. Andy Hill, who passed away in October of cancer.

The council appointed Rossi to the senate position following an interview process that included fellow candidates Joel Hussey and Kirkland City Councilmember Toby Nixon.

Rossi, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate from Sammamish, thanked the council and noted his swearing in as senator-elect marked the fourth time he has sworn in to the state senate, yet he has not served two full terms.

“[I’m] the only one in state history, I think, to do that,” he said, adding he was “incredibly proud” of Hill’s work. Rossi called Hill’s passing “a tremendous loss” and said he hoped to honor Hill’s legacy in Olympia.

“I will do my best to honor the votes that you’ve placed today to work across party lines and try to solve some of these problems,” Rossi said. “And these are big problems, these are not easy, but they are solvable.”

During candidate introductions, both Hussey and Nixon expressed their support for the appointment of Rossi to the 45th District Senate. Rossi received the top recommendation from the King County GOP on Nov. 19.

“I think that having Dino Rossi as our state senator during the 2017 session in particular, which will be a very difficult session because of the focus on full funding for basic education, would be a benefit not only to us in the 45th District, not only in the county, but to the entire state,” Nixon said. “[Rossi’s] experience in working on difficult budgets is hard to match.”

Rossi noted his prior experience writing the state budget while serving as chair for the senate Ways and Means Committee.

“Having Dino there, with his budget-writing expertise, to advise the new senate Ways and Means chair and help pull together a bipartisan agreement, will be a benefit to everyone in Washington regardless of party,” Nixon said in a statement on his Facebook page.

A Kirkland City Councilor since 2012, Nixon was the second overall choice by the PRCO but said he would have declined if offered the senate seat. Nixon has previously served in the Legislature for the 45th District from 2002 to 2007, but in the House of Representatives.

Nixon said he would not have run for reelection if chosen, and he would have kept his position with the city of Kirkland, but his demands as a senior program manager at Microsoft are too high to balance three jobs at once.

And besides, being a senator isn’t the easiest full-time job for a father of five.

“Neither the city nor the state Legislature pays enough to put kids through college,” Nixon said.

Hussey, of Redmond, also said Rossi was the clear choice by the PCOs. Hussey, who ran for a 45th District representative position in 2012 and 2014, had known Hill for a long time and said Hill’s replacement has big shoes to fill. Hussey is confident Rossi will do a good job.

“He’s an experienced legislator,” Hussey said about the former state senator and gubernatorial candidate. “He would do a phenomenal job.”

Rossi added he had “zero intention” of running for office after serving out the remainder of Hill’s term. He said he wanted to be in the state senate for the upcoming legislative session to help bring people together.

“As I look at Olympia now, it seems fairly partisan to me, of which I don’t think it has to be that way,” Rossi said.

For the upcoming legislative session, Rossi mentioned the issue of finding revenue to fully fund education to satisfy the McCleary decision would serve as the “driver” and would likely receive the most attention. He also brought up transportation as a critical issue to be addressed.

The vote to appoint Rossi came after an executive session by the council, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

Council Vice Chair Rod Dembowski and Councilmember Claudia Balducci expressed their support of Nixon as their first choice for the position, while Councilmember Dave Upthegrove also stated he didn’t want to vote against Nixon. Dembowski served as the lone vote against the amendment to the motion to appoint, which named Rossi to fill the position, before the council’s final vote for final selection.

“I may vote no on this amendment, but I’ll be pleased to support the final choice on final passage because I think it’s the right thing to do to ensure effective continuity of government,” Dembowski said. “Mr. Rossi’s willingness to serve on the sad occasion that we have here with the passing of Sen. Andy Hill, I think, is admirable.”

Staff writers John William Howard and Samantha Pak contributed to this report.