Gary Locke

Gary Locke

Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat from the state of Washington. Locke served as the 21st governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005, where he was the first Chinese-American governor as well as the first Asian American governor in the continental U.S. During the Obama administration, Locke served as Secretary of Commerce from 2009 to 2011, and as Ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014, where he was the first Chinese American to serve in the role.First elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1982, Locke went on to become King County executive in 1993 before being elected governor in 1996 election. A former prosecutor by professor, Locke staked out a reputation as a moderate Democrat during his tenure. Reelected in the 2000 gubernatorial election, Locke was chosen by national Democrats to give the party's response to president George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address. Locke declined to run for reelection in 2004.Since 2020, Locke has served as interim president of Bellevue College, the largest of the institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system.

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