Kirk Pearson takes the oath of office as the new state director for USDA Rural Development in Washington state, administered by Phil Eggman in Olympia on May 5, 2025. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Kirk Pearson, a former longtime Washington state lawmaker, was appointed this month as a top Washington official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Pearson, a Republican, resigned from the Legislature in 2017 to take the same role as Washington’s rural development director in the first Trump administration.
He couldn’t be reached for an interview. A spokesperson for the USDA said via email that the “Office of Communications is not approving individual media interviews while they coordinate messaging during this transition period.”
“I look forward to working closely with local leaders, Native American Tribes, farmers, small businesses, and families to expand opportunity and deliver the resources they need to thrive,” Pearson said in a press release. “Our mission is clear: to support rural America with solutions that are locally driven and nationally backed.”
Pearson, of Monroe, represented the 39th Legislative District in Snohomish, Skagit and King counties. He was in the House for a dozen years before serving from 2013 to 2017 in the state Senate. At the time, his departure briefly left a 24-24 balance of power in the chamber.
Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, later replaced Pearson in the Legislature.
Before his resignation, Pearson chaired the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee and also served on the Agriculture, Water, Trade and Economic Development Committee.
Between his stints at USDA, he was the vice president of external affairs for the Volunteers of America Western Washington.
Pearson was one of many new state rural development directors that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appointed this month.
“When America’s farming communities prosper, the entire nation thrives,” Rollins said in the release. “This new group of USDA appointees will ensure President Trump’s America First agenda is a reality in rural areas across the country. I am grateful for the leadership of these new state directors and look forward to their work reorienting the agency to put Farmers First again.”
Rollins also reappointed Jon Wyss as the Washington state executive director of the Farm Service Agency. President Donald Trump first tapped Wyss for the role in 2019. Then-President Joe Biden also picked him in 2022.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, said “Washington farmers are lucky to have him charting the course at FSA.”
Wyss ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2016 in central Washington’s 12th Legislative District, losing to a fellow Republican. Over a decade earlier, he served in the Senate for a few days while the sitting senator had to briefly leave his duties.
This post was originally authored and published by Jake Goldstein-Street from Washington State Standard via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
