State Senator Doug Ericksen, Republican of Washington, died this Sunday due to complications from COVID-19 , which he caught while traveling outside the country. Ericksen led efforts to oppose emergency orders and vaccine mandates.
The context: Last month, Ericksen wrote to his Republican colleagues and told them that he had tested positive for the coronavirus after traveling to El Salvador. He asked his colleagues for help in getting monoclonal antibodies. He was 52 years old.
During the pandemic, he led efforts to combat Gov. Jay Inslee’s restrictions, introduced legislation to ban vaccination mandates, and called for Inslee’s resignation.
- It is not clear where Senator Doug Ericksen was being held when he died. It is unknown if the legislator was vaccinated.
- Ericksen’s family said in a statement Saturday that he had passed away the day before.
- The Senator from Whatcom County, he had served in the Legislature since 1999 and was a supporter of former President Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.
What do they say? “Please keep our family in your prayers and thank you for continuing to respect our privacy at this extremely difficult time,” the family wrote in a statement shared by the state Senate Republican group.
- “Our political battles were tough and difficult, but we respect each other’s fierce devotion to serving the public and our communities,” wrote Democratic Senator Reuven Carlyle.
- “Our friendship found ways to rise above political differences,” Carlyle added, referring to Doug Ericksen.
- “Washington State is No. 1 in government coercion,” Ericksen said in a statement last month.