For the past four years, Claire has represented the 30th district, advocating for accessible early education, safe and healthy communities, comprehensive sex ed, accessible transportation, environmental protections and more. She also serves as an advisory board member on the Washington State Family and Community Trust Organization and as a Senate member to the Department of Children, Youth, and Family (DCYF) Oversight Board.

Prior to her election to the Washington State Senate, Claire spent 25 years working for the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD), specializing in early education and family involvement. Prior to working for the PSESD, Claire taught pregnant and parenting teens at Mt. Tahoma High School, worked as a nutrition educator, and ran a WIC clinic in rural Montana following graduate school.

Claire also has taken a leadership role advocating for kids and families in Federal Way as the School Board President of the Federal Way Public Schools Board of Education, on the State Advisory Committee for Head Start State Collaboration Office (HSSCO), on the Expanded Learning Opportunities Council (ELOC) representing WSSDA’s 295 School Board’s across the state, and as a board member of Region 2 King County, Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA), and Building Better Futures (BBF) Partnership of Greater Kent Community.

Claire has extensive volunteer experience in South King County and beyond and currently serves as an advisor to the Washington State Leadership Board and the WA State LGBTQ Commission, and as a member of FUSION Federal Way Advisory Council. She has also served on the Advisory Board of the Washington Family Engagement Trust and in South King County on her local PTA, as a member of  Citizens for Federal Way Schools, and as a Board member of The Sidekick Collective.

Claire is a proud lesbian woman and mother of two adult children.  She is a Washington State-native, grew up in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt High School and Washington State University.  She received her Master’s Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Now a long-term resident of the 30th LD, Claire has lived in South King County since 1999.