Early Life

Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti (pelli-chotty) is the son of educators and the product of public schools. He spent summers with his grandparents, who as a janitor and a cleaning lady, worked hard to earn pensions that allowed for a dignified retirement. They instilled in him the importance of always fighting for working families and retirees.

He studied business administration and economics in college, received a master’s degree in rural development as a United States Fulbright Scholar, and received his law degree from Gonzaga University. Today he has family on both sides of the Cascades. 

Mike has dedicated his career to fighting for the people, giving every Washingtonian economic opportunity, the tools to thrive financially, and the security of a dignified retirement.

Before Becoming Treasurer

As an Assistant Attorney General, Mike managed a unit that combated financial fraud, returning tens of millions of dollars back to the people of Washington. In 2016, he was elected as a Washington State Representative for north Pierce and south King Counties. 

He has always rejected all corporate campaign donations!

In the legislature, Mike focused on financial transparency, successfully passing laws to get “dark money” out of politics. Mike called on his fellow legislators to join him in providing their public records. He wrote and passed into law the Corporate Crime Act that increased corporate criminal penalties for the first time in nearly a century. 

Accomplishments as State Treasurer

The people of Washington elected Mike as Washington State’s youngest current statewide official in 2020. 

When he became State Treasurer in 2021, Washington faced large budget shortfalls due to the Covid Economic Recession. Mike got to work. To secure jobs, Mike approved private financing to save money on government projects. He used his executive authority to redirect over $550 million dollars wasted in Wall Street interest payments back to the State Treasury.  

Mike wrote Treasury investment policies that stopped state treasurers from investing in the same corporations that funded their campaigns. Through his focus on sustainable investments, his Treasury investments are now earning billions in new dollars, returns that are now 50 times higher for local governments than in 2021. That’s an extra $3 million dollars each day going to local governments, so they can better provide essential local services!

His strong financial leadership grew state reserves, increased pension funding, and made debt costs manageable. Today, Washington State’s long-term fiscal stability is ranked by U.S. News as the best in the nation with one of the top funded pensions in the country. Washington has maintained a Moody’s AAA credit rating (Moody’s top rating for state finances), and this year Washington earned an S&P positive credit rating outlook. 

Mike’s long-term focus makes Washington more secure and safeguards your State Treasury. He works to improve the lives of Washingtonians now and for the next generation. He has taken this previously unknown statewide office to the people, with hundreds of meetings, speeches, and town halls in each of the State’s 39 counties. His goal is for Washingtonians to better understand how their public money is managed. To further financial transparency, he has also created an online public Transparency Portal to give the people access to how government is spending their public dollars.

Mike knows that it’s as tough as ever for working families and those on fixed incomes to get by financially, so he has also led policies to make educational, vocational, and housing access more affordable and to make a dignified retirement more within reach for all workers. He lowered the cost of GET/529 tuition access while maintaining full funding of the program. He is especially focused on expanding financial education in Washington and is leading an effort to require financial education in all schools. 

As your Treasurer, Mike fights every day for Washington’s working families and retirees. He proves that government best serves the people when elected officials say no to corporate campaign money.