Too often, lawmakers in Olympia serve special interests or their own political party before thinking of the needs of the districts they represent. But residents in the 48th legislative district, which includes parts of Bellevue, Kirkland, Medina and Redmond, are fortunate to have a representative that seeks to put constituents first.
In just his first term, Rep. Osman Salahuddin managed to craft and pass legislation benefiting his neighbors. He championed a bill to allow employees to use sick time for immigration court — in a district that includes a large population of immigrants. He also voted no on a B&O tax increase in 2025 because he knew it would do harm to businesses, including his father’s print shop.
The son of Pakistani immigrants, Salahuddin studied neurobiology at the University of Washington and worked as a researcher at Fred Hutch Cancer Center and UW Medicine before making a pivot into politics. He was elected to the Redmond City Council in 2024; the Metropolitan King County Council appointed him to serve out an unfinished term.
The lawmaker has the humility to recognize errors the Legislature, and he himself, have made. He regrets a yes vote for a sales tax on many business services in 2025, and argued this year’s new income tax would lead to the repeal of that earlier tax. He also voted to reel in an estate tax earlier this year that brought it from 35% to 20% and had previously resulted in wealth departing the state.
“I saw a lot of detrimental impacts that maybe were unforeseen, like we saw with the estate tax, where, you know, you raised it beyond what was actually feasible in bringing money in,” he told the board.
Salahuddin spearheaded a bill that prohibited the manufacturing of “ghost guns” and other firearm components on 3D printers, including the sale of the code that designs those weapons.
Salahuddin also leads by example as a lawmaker who is, in his words, an “open book.” He said he has not, nor ever plans to, invoke legislative privilege, the novel and problematic tactic some of fellow lawmakers have used to hide emails and other correspondence from the public.
Voters should send Salahuddin back to Olympia for another term.
