Denny Heck

Dennis Lynn Heck (born July 29, 1952) is an American entrepreneur and politician serving as the 17th lieutenant governor of Washington.

Heck was born in Vancouver, Washington, in 1952 and raised in the Lake Shore area of Clark County.

One day his father did not come back home so Heck's mother took him and his older brother and borrowed money to take a bus back to Vancouver to get her old job back as a telephone operator.

Heck's mother divorced and later married a Teamster truck driver who provided him and his family a better life.

Vic Heck, Heck's mother's new husband, later adopted him and his brother Bob.

Heck graduated from Columbia River High School in 1970 and accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, which he attended briefly before enrolling in and later graduating from Evergreen State College in Olympia in 1973.

He also attended graduate school Portland State University from 1974 to 1975.

Heck was the co-founder with Christopher Hedrick of Intrepid Learning Solutions.

Starting in 1976, Heck was elected to five terms in the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 17th legislative district in Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat counties.

During that time he was elected House Majority Leader, the second-ranking position in the House.

He also co-chaired the Education Committee and wrote the state's historic Basic Education Act.

Heck is the author of Challenges and Opportunities: The Transformation of Washington's Schools, published in 1987, Lucky Bounce published in 2015, a novel titled The Enemy You Know published in 2018, and Sausage an unvarnished behind-the-scenes look at his time in Congress, published in 2022.

Heck served as chief of staff for Governor Booth Gardner during his second term (1989–1993).

Heck served as the host for the TVW public affairs show Inside Olympia in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Upon Governor Gardner's retirement in 1995, Heck and a friend and colleague, Stan Marshburn, co-founded TVW, a nonprofit statewide public affairs network for Washington State patterned after C-SPAN.

He served as a board director of the company from 1999 until 2012.

The company specialized in business oriented education and training programs.

He helped found Digital Efficiency, which specialized in aiding businesses and medical facilities in transitioning toward an all-digital format.

Heck helped found TVW, the public affairs network for Washington State.

TVW provides coverage of the Washington State Legislature and sessions of the Washington Supreme Court.

Upon his "retirement" in 2003, Heck concentrated on helping to build a for-profit company he had founded specializing in business oriented education and training programs.

In 2010, Heck attempted to return to politics as the Democratic nominee for the 3rd congressional district, but was defeated by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler.

In early 2010, Heck announced his candidacy to replace the retiring Democratic incumbent Brian Baird.

He won the primary with 31% of the vote and faced runner-up Republican Jaime Herrera, who won 28% of the vote.

Heck was endorsed by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 12, 2010.

Heck lost to Herrera in the general election, 47% to 53%.

Soon after the state's redistricting commission announced tentative maps, Heck announced that he was running for the newly created 10th district.

Heck indicated in the spring of 2011 that he would run for Congress again in 2012.

Following redistricting, Washington added a 10th congressional district in which Heck lived representing Pierce, Thurston, and Mason County, and Heck won that seat in the U.S. House in 2012, where he served there from 2013 until 2021.

In the general election on November 6, 2012, Heck defeated Republican challenger Dick Muri to become the district's first congressman.

Heck won with 54.7% of the vote over Republican Joyce McDonald.

Heck won with 58.7% of the vote over Republican Jim Postma.

Heck won with 61.5% of the vote over Republican Joseph Brumbles.

A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the U.S. representative for Washington's 10th congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and as a state representative from 1977 to 1985.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Washington, Heck attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia.

Following his service in the state house, Heck served a term as Chief Clerk of the House and then as Deputy Chief of Staff/Chief of Staff to Governor Booth Gardner.

Since 2013, Heck and Representative Ed Perlmutter have introduced legislation to improve access to banking and financial services for cannabis businesses.

Initially known as the Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act, it was rebranded as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act in 2017.

On September 25, 2019, the House of Representatives passed the SAFE Banking Act by a 321–103 margin, marking the first time that a standalone cannabis reform bill had passed either chamber of Congress.

In 2020, he ran to become the lieutenant governor of Washington, a position he won and has served in since January 2021.