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April Connors for State Representative
April’s record in Olympia

Delivering for the 8th District.

Bills signed into law. More than $100 million delivered for the Tri-Cities. A No. 3 caucus leadership role. Here’s what April has gotten done — and what she’s still working on.

Caucus leadership

Leadership trajectory.

From first-term Assistant Whip to House Republican Floor Leader in three years — an unusually fast ascent driven by April’s peers.

  1. 2023–24

    First term · Assistant Whip

    Member of House Appropriations, Consumer Protection & Business, and Housing (Assistant Ranking Minority Member). Appointed Assistant Whip of the House Republican Caucus.

  2. November 2024

    Elected House Republican Floor Leader

    Chosen by her caucus peers for the No. 3 House Republican leadership post — responsible for floor strategy, debate organization, and parliamentary actions. An unusually fast leadership ascent for a second-term member.

  3. 2025–26

    Second term · Asst. Ranking, House Appropriations

    Member of House Housing and House Rules; serves on the Joint Arts Commission, the Office of Homeless Youth Prevention & Protection Advisory Committee, and the Covenant Homeownership Program Oversight Committee.

Recognition

Recognized by press and peers.

Recognition from nonpartisan press, statewide observers, and her own colleagues — not the campaign — has flagged April as one of the most effective members of her caucus.

  1. Recognized

    Named a 2026 session “winner”

    Washington State Standard · Bill Lucia & Jerry Cornfield, March 2026

    Named a winner of the 2026 legislative session by the nonpartisan Washington State Standard for leading the longest WA House floor debate the Clerk could recall in 26 years — a 24-hour, 33-minute effort against a proposed state income tax.

    Read the coverage →
  2. Featured

    “Rising GOP star” in Olympia

    Tri-City Herald · Bob Brawdy, April 2026

    A long-form Tri-City Herald profile crediting April with shaping Republican floor strategy in Olympia: peers say her efforts have been “crucial to thwarting and bogging down bills proposed by majority Democrats.”

    Read the profile →
  3. Awarded

    2025 Legislative Superhero Award

    Tri-Tech Skills Center & Washington State Skills Center Association · May 2025

    Joint recognition from the region’s skills-center community for the HB 1414 / HB 1722 workforce package and broader CTE advocacy — honoring April’s work connecting students directly to real careers.

    Read the announcement →
  4. Elected by peers

    House Republican Floor Leader

    Republican caucus · November 2024

    In only her second term, April’s colleagues elected her Floor Leader — the No. 3 post in the caucus and one of the highest-ranking Republican roles in the House. A direct peer-recognition signal, captured in coverage from the Washington State Standard, Cascade PBS, and KOZI Radio.

    Read the coverage →
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Housing

Housing supply and access.

Drawing on more than two decades in real estate, April’s housing work focuses on supply-side reform — removing the barriers that keep Washington families out of homeownership.

  1. Signed into law

    HB 1191Mortgage access for manufactured homeowners

    Signed by Gov. Ferguson April 11, 2025 · House 97–0, Senate 49–0

    Reclassifies manufactured homes in cooperatively-owned communities as real property, qualifying owners for traditional mortgages instead of high-interest chattel loans. Initially affects approximately 1,700 homes across 30 parks statewide. Praised by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

    Read the coverage →
  2. Signed into law

    Tenant notice delivery bills

    Signed by Gov. Ferguson March 24, 2026 · Both passed the House unanimously

    Two Connors-sponsored bills fixing a breakdown in how tenants receive legally-required housing notices — restoring reliable delivery so renters get the information state law requires.

    Read the coverage →
  3. Introduced

    HB 1438Housing-permit fast-track

    Connors-sponsored

    Streamlines local housing-permit timelines to accelerate new construction across Washington — addressing the regulatory bottlenecks that have priced families out of the communities they want to live in.

  4. Proposed

    Homes for Heroes

    Endorsed by Gov. Ferguson in his 2025 inaugural address

    A down-payment and closing-cost assistance program for first responders, teachers, and other essential workers — aimed at keeping the people who serve our communities living in them.

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Career & Technical Education

Workforce training and CTE pathways.

Two Connors-sponsored CTE bills signed into law in a single 2025 session — recognized with a Tri-Tech Legislative Superhero Award.

  1. Signed into law

    HB 1414 & HB 1722Workforce package for CTE students

    Both bills signed by Gov. Ferguson, 2025

    HB 1414 expanded the state’s CTE task force to include L&I and youth-employment groups, charged with identifying regulatory barriers keeping credentialed students out of their fields. HB 1722 required state agencies to update rules so trained 16- and 17-year-olds can test for professional licenses in fields like CNA, firefighter trainee, and EMS.

  2. Awarded

    2025 Legislative Superhero Award

    Tri-Tech Skills Center & Washington State Skills Center Association

    Joint recognition for the HB 1414 / HB 1722 workforce package and broader CTE advocacy.

    Read the announcement →
  3. Engaged

    Built with educators, not around them

    Tri-Tech, Washington State Skills Center Association & the CTE task force

    April’s CTE work is shaped in collaboration with the skills-center directors and credentialed educators actually preparing students for these careers — an approach that drove unanimous-vote passage for both 2025 bills.

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Capital budget

Delivering for the 8th District.

Working with Rep. Stephanie Barnard and Sen. Matt Boehnke, April has helped secure more than $100 million in Tri-Cities project funding.

  1. Delivered

    $100 million+ across two biennia

    2023–25, 2025–27, and 2026 supplemental capital budgets

    Across three consecutive capital-budget cycles, April has helped deliver investments to the 8th District — from behavioral-health capacity to community-college infrastructure to the agricultural and clean-energy industries that anchor the regional economy.

    Read the coverage →
  2. Delivered

    $5 million · Three Rivers Behavioral Health Center

    2025–27 capital budget

    Capital funding to expand the Three Rivers Behavioral Health Center — part of April’s broader push to bring real mental-health treatment capacity to the Tri-Cities, the largest Washington metro area still missing key inpatient care.

  3. Delivered

    $3.2 million · Columbia Basin College infrastructure

    2025–27 capital budget

    Infrastructure investment at Columbia Basin College — the Tri-Cities’ community college and a primary feeder for the regional workforce, including the trades, nursing, and applied-science programs that supply the local economy.

  4. Advocated

    Columbia Valley Center for Recovery

    Behavioral-health and substance-use treatment facility

    Public advocate and budget champion for the long-sought facility that would give the Tri-Cities its first inpatient addiction-treatment capacity — currently the only Washington metro area without one.

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Energy & Hanford

Defending the energy that powers the Tri-Cities.

From Hanford’s federal cleanup mission to the Columbia River hydroelectric system to a first-term bill answering rural complaints about wind-farm light pollution — April’s energy record reflects a district whose economy is built on reliable, affordable power.

  1. Signed into law

    Wind‑turbine light‑pollution fix

    Connors‑sponsored · Signed May 2023 · Partial veto

    April’s first-term signed bill: aviation-safety lighting on Washington wind farms now activates only when an aircraft is detected nearby, instead of blinking constantly through the night. Bipartisan support; answered long-running rural Eastern‑Washington complaints about night-sky pollution from utility-scale wind installations.

    Read the coverage →
  2. Co‑sponsored

    Hanford cleanup‑mission defense

    With the Mighty 8th delegation · Multiple sessions

    Hanford supports roughly 13,000 federal-contract workers and a $3.35 billion FY2026 federal cleanup budget — one in ten Tri‑Cities jobs and the single largest economic engine in the 8th District. April co‑sponsors caucus work defending the federal obligation and the family-wage jobs it anchors.

  3. Defended

    Columbia River hydroelectric system

    Federal dam network · Ongoing

    The federal hydropower system on the Columbia and Snake rivers anchors irrigation for over a million acres of 8th‑District farmland and provides the bulk of the region’s baseload electricity. April has opposed dam-removal proposals and consistently supports continued federal investment in the hydroelectric network.

  4. Opposed

    Premature retirement of reliable baseload

    2025–26 sessions

    April consistently votes against legislation that would shutter reliable baseload generation — hydro, nuclear, natural gas — before Washington has affordable, dependable replacements in place. Reliability isn’t a partisan issue in the 8th District: it’s what keeps farms irrigated, families employed, and the regional clean-energy economy growing.

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Tax fight

Holding the line on taxes.

As House Republican Floor Leader, April coordinated the longest floor debate the House Clerk could recall in 26 years on the chamber floor — a fight against SB 6346. The Democratic majority ultimately forced the bill through on a narrow 51–46 vote — eight Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition — to enact Washington’s first state income tax.

  1. Led the floor fight

    24-hour, 33-minute floor debate against a state income tax

    SB 6346 · March 2026

    April coordinated the caucus’s 24h 33m floor effort against SB 6346. The Democratic majority ultimately forced the bill through on a narrow 51–46 vote — eight Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition — enacting Washington’s first state income tax. House Clerk Bernard Dean said it was the longest floor debate he could recall in 26 years.

    Read the coverage →
  2. Opposed

    2025–27 operating-budget tax package

    As Assistant Ranking Member on House Appropriations

    Led House Republican opposition to the multi-billion-dollar 2025–27 Democratic operating budget tax package, arguing that the underlying spending growth — not the revenue shortfall — was the actual problem.

  3. Recognized

    2026 session “winner”

    Washington State Standard · Bill Lucia & Jerry Cornfield, March 2026

    The Washington State Standard named April one of the 2026 session’s “winners” for leading the historic floor effort against the proposed state income tax — a recognition usually reserved for committee chairs and party leadership.

    Read the coverage →
  4. Voted no

    Gas-tax and hunting/fishing-fee increases

    2025 transportation package · 2025 fee schedules

    Voted against the 6-cent-per-gallon gas-tax hike included in the 2025 transportation package and the increases to hunting and fishing license fees — regressive costs that fall hardest on working families in rural and outdoor-recreation communities.

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Public safety

Standing up for Tri-Cities families.

Appropriations work and community-safety legislation reflecting the 8th District’s priorities.

  1. Proposed amendment

    $200 million for law-enforcement hiring grants

    2025 operating-budget amendment

    Funded by reducing nonfaculty higher-education staffing back to 2008 levels — an amendment directing dollars to the front lines of public safety.

  2. Introduced

    SVP placement bill package

    With Tri-Cities lawmakers · January 2026

    A multi-bill package tightening rules on placement of sexually violent predators after community concerns in Kennewick.

    Read the coverage →
  3. Organized

    Tri-Cities lawmaker coalition & Kennewick town hall

    January 2026 · SVP placement response

    After community concerns about the planned placement of a sexually violent predator in Kennewick, April helped convene an overflow town-hall meeting and assembled a Tri-Cities-area lawmaker coalition behind the SVP placement bill package — turning community alarm into legislative action.

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Want to know where she stands on the issues?

See April’s priorities →
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