David Upthegrove (born May 3, 1971) is an American politician. He is a member of the King County Council, representing the 5th district since 2014. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he was a member of 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 ...

, representing the 33rd district from 2002 to 2013.

Early life and education

Upthegrove is a descendant of the Dutch

Op den Graeff family Op den Graeff, also ''Updegraff, Uptegraft, Updegraft, Updegrave, Updegrove, Uptegrove, Ubdegrove, Uptegraph'' is a Dutch and American family. History The earliest historically proven Op den Graeff, Herman op den Graeff (1585-1642) lived in Al ...

. He was born and raised in

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

and attended Lakeside School in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental conservation from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

and a graduate certificate in energy policy planning from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

Career

Upthegrove was appointed to the

in January 2002 and was elected to a two-year term in November 2002. He was then re-elected at two-year intervals until running for King County Council. While serving in the

, Upthegrove was chair of the Environment Committee and also served on the Local Government and Transportation Committee. He is a former chair of the Select Committee on

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

. He has been involved in education policy, sponsoring and passing legislation to improve the teaching of civics and to better meet the needs of recent immigrant students. The Washington Conservation Voters called Upthegrove "a leader on environmental issues and a rising star in the House." Upthegrove led high-profile environmental initiatives to clean up Puget Sound and to clean up soil at schools and day cares contaminated by a local

Asarco Asarco LLC (American Smelting and Refining Company) is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona, which mines and processes primarily copper. The company has been a subsidiary of Grupo México since 1999. Its three larges ...

copper smelter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Upthegrove, Dave Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives 1971 births Living people Gay politicians LGBT state legislators in Washington (state) University of Colorado alumni People from Burien, Washington King County Councillors 21st-century LGBT people