Biography

Sen. Craig Pridemore chairs the Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee and serves on two other committees in the Washington State Senate: the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee.  He also chairs the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC). As JLARC chair, Craig also sits on the Citizen Commission for Performance Measurement of Tax Preferences.

Craig has represented the 49th Legislative District since 2005.  The district includes Vancouver west of Interstate 205, and the Minnehaha, Lakeshore and Hazel Dell areas. Prior to his election to the Senate, Craig served as Clark County Commissioner from 1999 to 2004.

Outside the senate, Craig serves on the board of directors of Columbia River Mental Health Services in Vancouver and the advisory board of Friends of Clark County.  He has served on a number of community boards including C-Tran, the Southwest Washington Clean Air Agency, the Council for the Homeless, the Bi-State Transportation Committee and the regional Transportation Council. Craig served as finance manager from 1992 to 1998 and as firm administrator from 1990 to 1992 for a certified public accounting firm.

Craig has received numerous community awards and recognitions for his work in a variety of fields, particularly in environmental protection, economic development and youth services.  In 2011, Pridemore was singled out by the Washington State Sewer and Water District Association as that group's Legislator of the Year. In 2008, Craig received the Landmark Deeds Award for Public Service from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and also the Fuse "True Patriot" Sizzle Award. In 2007, he received the Dennis Campbell Outstanding Service Award from the Clark County Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board. In 2006, he was honored by the Washington School Nutrition Association for strengthening Washington's school breakfast programs in the 2006 legislative session. That same year, he was named the Washington Conservation Voters Legislator of the Year, was awarded the Clark County Youth House Community Inspiration Award, and was named 2006 Outstanding Legislator by the Children's Alliance.

Craig served as an Intelligence Analyst in the active-duty U.S. Army from 1983 to 1987 and was named Fort Monmouth Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year in 1986.  He earned a B.A. degree in political science from the University of Washington in 1989.

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